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A Review of Urban Planning in Tallinn, Estonia

A Review of Urban Planning in Tallinn, Estonia

A Review of Urban Planning in , :

Post- Planning Initiatives in Historic and Cultural Context

by Vaike Haas

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Landscape Architecture School of Natural Resources and Environment of Michigan, Ann Arbor USA August 2006

Thesis Committee:

Dr. Larissa Larsen, University of Michigan Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning

Madis Pihlak, Pennsylvania State University Associate Professor of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

Beth Diamond, University of Michigan Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture

i

Abstract

Tallinn, Estonia features one of the best-preserved old towns in . The central part of the city, which dates in part back to the 13th century, has drawn millions of tourists each year since the 1990s. In 2004, 6.7 million passengers passed through Tallinn’s ports. A short (80-km) ferry ride from , Tallinn’s location -- at the crossroads of east-west and north-south trading routes -- has made it highly contested territory since the Crusades.

During the twentieth century, Tallinn was subject to interludes of Russian/Soviet and German rule. Since the restoration of Estonia’s independence in 1991, economic and political changes have been rapid. A parliamentary democracy, Estonia in 1998 earned the of “Europe’s purest free market economy”. Estonia joined the on 1 May 2004, and, in the words of one official, now aspires to be “just another boring Nordic country.” Estonia identifies strongly with because of close cultural, linguistic, and economic ties with , and historical links with and .

The Finnish architect proposed a city plan for 1913 Tallinn, which exerted a hidden influence during the 50 years of Soviet occupation. Soviet-era migrants were accommodated in housing blocks which appear austere today. , in contrast, found it difficult to find housing, which may have contributed to the rapid decline of their birth rate. Russian and Estonian districts still remain largely separated, in effect making Tallinn “one city, two towns.” With a population of 430,000, the city continues to confront the problem of integrating its Russian population, along with challenges of intense tourism, privatization of property, increased demands for housing, and the restructuring of open-space planning.

Rapid economic and cultural changes have shaped planning priorities and progress in Tallinn, and have left the city with a physical imprint of its history -- and likely future.

 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005  Financial Times  Personal communication, Landscape Architecture Professor Madis Pihlak After Hill & Gaddy 2003: 29 -10 Kiev St. Petersburg Tallinn -5 Helsinki - Stock holm Estonia Macedonia Finland 0 Bosnia Sweden Czech 5 10 Denmark ii Tallinn’s latitude is approximately Tallinn’s equivalent to . Isotherms show lines of constant temperature in Europe. Most cities fall where the average January is between temperature 0 and -5 C. Russia. Tallinn is marked in red. Russia. Tallinn Estonia’s closest neighbors are closest neighbors are Estonia’s Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Figure 2 Figure 1: 1

Table of Contents Tallinn http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Tallinn_location.png

2 Introduction 4 Context and Location 7 Early Estonian History and Language

14 Estonia under Tsarist Russia: 1710-1917 22 Saarinen’s Plan for Tallinn: 1913 31 The First Period of Estonian Independence: 1918-1940

37 Early Soviet Occupation: 1940-1941 40 Nazi German Occupation: 1941-1944 42 Later Soviet Occupation: 1945-1991 56 The : 1986-1991

60 The Second Period of Independence: 1991-Present 67 Post-Soviet Sources and Influences of Power within Tallinn 69 Post-Soviet Form and Meaning of the Physical City 86 Post-Soviet Public Policy and Urban Development 92 Post-Soviet Population Change and Ethnic Relations 103 Promoting Multiculturalism in Tallinn

107 Recommendations for Parks 109 Recommendations for Neighborhoods 111 Recommendations for Traffic 115 Recommendations for Green (and Blue) Space

117 Conclusion

120 Appendix: Population and Ethnicity Data 123 References Figures 3a-b Tallinn is located in Harjuu County in (above), 80 km from Helsinki. Tallinn is divided into eight districts (below).

Aegna Island

Pirita

Põhja Tallinn Front Cover Image Center Lasnamäe City View of Tallinn from across the bay at the Vabaõhumuuseum (Open Air Museum), which Mustamäe features traditional Estonian architecture. Nõmme Harju County Watercolor painting by Vaike Haas 

Introduction

Very little has been written about Tallinn’s city planning in English. Even the city’s masterplan documents from 2000-2005 are only available in Estonian. In order to acquaint English-speakers with a sense of the range of issues that Tallinn’s planners have to tackle, this paper will:

1907 photo by R. von der Loy, Viires 2004: 82 find marks on the city from almost seven centuries of occupation, compare today’s progress toward multiculturalism with historic ethnic relations, identify the major problems and progress in post-Soviet planning, and

Figure 4 suggest ways to promote integration ’s north slope is raised through urban planning and design. and isolated by a wall. At the turn of the century, only the Lutheran Cathedral of St. Mary, or Church, claimed the Methods summit. I collected material from sources not readily accessible to English-speakers, in addition to reviewing the literature (in both Estonian and English). I interviewed several city experts and officials, including: the Mayor, the Head of the City Planning Office, the City Landscape Architect, and the former Minister of the Environment. Finally, I photographed historic maps and other

Figure 5 remains very well preserved today. 

materials with the permission of Tallinn’s Linna Arhiiv (City Archives).

Historic Approach

Estonian culture is a crossroads of East meets West meets Scandinavia, and Tallinn’s struggles to achieve ethnic integration today reflect a long history of multiculturalism and colonization. This analysis begins with a sampling of Tallinn’s significant historic epochs in order to set the city’s urban planning into context. As urbanists Jean-Luc Pinol and Richard Roger explained,

few contemporary concerns can be understood without reference to the historical development of towns and cities.

In a tiny country little-known to the outside world before 1991, taking an historic–cultural– Figures 6a-c Patrull Stairs connect Toompea’s geographical approach to assessing urban north slope to the city below. planning was especially relevant. Tallinn, like all cities, is part of a larger narrative. Linna Arhiiv photo Linna Arhiiv Tallinn is a town that will never be finished. Legend holds that at midnight in autumn once each year, a small gray old man asks the guards at the town gate whether Tallinn is done being built. The old man wants to open the floodgates restraining the nearby Lake Ülemiste and destroy the city once it is complete; but, each year, the guards tell him construction is ongoing.

This legend has poignant relevance in the post- Soviet era, as Estonians seek to erase Soviet traces and ‘reclaim’ Tallinn’s history. According to conflict resolution specialist David Smith:

The restoration of statehood according to the Postcard; photographer unknown principle of legal continuity could not efface the factual legacies – political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and demographic – left behind by fifty years of sovietisation. In this sense, the use of the term ‘post-Soviet’ with regard to Estonia is not only valid, but makes the subsequent progress in domestic reform and European integration appear all the more remarkable.

Tallinn is a city still in the process of rising from the sea, and where lost histories continually come to

 Clark 2006: xi  Smith 2002: xii  Bruns 1993: 26 light. Tallinn’s layers of history and 700 years of foreign rule have left marks on the city that are all the more apparent because of the ongoing, successional emersion of land. To ground this report’s analysis of post-Soviet transitions and ethnic relations, I first present Tallinn in its historic context of occupation and conflict.

Context and Location Figure 7 Toompea (circled) was an island before Estonia’s receded. Estonia, the northernmost of three Baltic nations (see Figure 1), was restored to independence in

After Aunap 2004: 20, 23 1991 after 51 years of Soviet occupation. The USSR’s unlawful annexation of the was arranged through a clandestine clause of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with . The Baltic States secured their independence through what became known as the Singing Revolution, between 1986-1991, and in the years since have experienced sweeping political and economic transformations. Figure 8 Half of Estonia is forested. The Baltic countries ‘returned to Europe’ with Estonia has many natural enthusiasm, shedding the shroud of Sovietization reserves and protected areas. more efficiently and effectively than many other former Soviet Republics. Estonia has achieved the highest standard of living of any former

Watercolor painting by Vaike Haas USSR republic. While Estonia has the closest ties with Scandinavia and the most stable market economy, all three Baltic States were able to join the European Union in 2004. While a number of diverse cultures and nationalities have been variously considered “Baltic” since the 11th century, after the was more firmly defined as referring exclusively to Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.

Climate

Estonia is a small country (350 by 240 km), with an area of 45,215 km2, roughly the size of Denmark. Tallinn’s latitude, at 59°26’, is roughly as far north as Oslo, Stockholm, or the Alaska Peninsula. Tallinn’s winters are slightly colder Figure 9 than Helsinki’s (see Figure 2). Estonia’s climate Two rough-hewn planks make a is moderated by its proximity to the . boardwalk through Aabla in  Lahemaa Park, east of Tallinn. Estonia’s mainland has 1254 km of coastline.

 Also known as  Hackmann and Schweitzer 2002: 362  Raukas 1996: 7  After Aunap 2004: 21 Population

Estonia is divided into 15 counties, which are in turn divided into local government areas, or vald districts. As of January 2005, Estonia’s Tallinn, in Harju County (see Figures 3a-b) housed 401,821 people, or almost one third of the nation’s population (1,347,000).10 There are around one million ethnic Estonians living in Estonia, and roughly another 100,000 Estonians Figure 10 About one fourth of Estonia is living abroad (see Appendix for population data). covered by wetlands. Most of the country’s population (71.5%) is urban.11 Tallinn’s population density (in 2005) was 2,524 people per square km.9 The overall population density of Estonia was 34.9 people per square km in 1989.8 After http://www.einst.ee/publications/language/pildid/keelepuu.html Tourism Votian Livonian Estonian Eryza Moksha Mari Tallinn increasingly emphasizes its links with Finnish Komi Helsinki, which manifest both in the form of Karelian Udmurt strong and growing competition (for tourists Vepsian Hungarian Izhorian Khanty and residents) and cooperation (investment Sami Mansi and services).12 Located on the Baltic Sea, 80 km from Helsinki, Tallinn is a popular tourist destination, attracting 6 million visitors to its Figure 11 The is related 13 port each year. In Estonia, with a population of to Finnish and Hungarian. 1.32 million,14 this level of tourism is significant. Tallinn derives much of its tourist appeal from its Old Town (), which is one of the best- preserved medieval town centers in Europe. Old Town escaped much of the wartime bombing that affected other European towns. There are two distinct areas within Old Town: a general enclosed downtown area, and the former fortress Toompea, which is raised 20-30 meters above After http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/79-104/Readings/Gallery/2.html the city15 by a outcrop (see Figures 4-7).

Environment

Estonians were among the last pagans in Europe, and a devotion to nature continues to shape city structure and urban planning in Estonia. Estonians have always been closely tied to their Figure 12  Peterson 1994: 6 Tallinn’s ice-free port marked 10 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005 the northernmost range of early 11 Raukas 1996: 21 medieval trade routes. 12 Tallinn City Enterprise Board 2004: 9 13 Statistikaamet 2004: 133 14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia 15 Tallinn: A Medieval Pearl on the Baltic Sea 2005: 7  Photo by Toomas Vendelin, Head Uudised Postcards land and forests; in fact, nature conservation in Estonia dates back the 13th century, when sacred groves and trees were protected. Even a few hundred years ago, felling hay was still forbidden within the reach of the canopy of sacred trees. The earliest known state act regulating the conservation of natural resources in Estonia was an order to protect trees issued by the Danish in 1297. Even with increased cultivation under Swedish rule in the 16th-17th centuries, Figure 13 Tallinn’s Raekoja Plats (Town Hall when the overall amount of forest declined, oak, Square) is centrally located in Old apple, rowan, and cherry tree species remained Town. protected: “in some cases two trees were to be planted for each tree cut.”16 In fact, conservation was so culturally important that a person caught cutting trees illegally was declared an outlaw. Today, almost one half of the republic remains forested, mostly with temperate mixed forest (see Figure 8, sidebar following page).17

A forested buffer of 106 meters was established along the Baltic shoreline in 1764, and in some areas was as wide as 2 km. This buffer protected the region’s topsoil. While the buffer was introduced to serve the ship- industry, ship-builders were forbidden from cutting oak, maple, elm or pine trees for ship masts.18 c. 1890 photo by C. Borchardt, Viires 2004: 113 The Baltic’s first nature preserve was established in 1910 on the in Western . By 1940, 17 preserves and 90 parks were protected. The 1992 constitution declared:

Everyone shall be obliged to preserve the human and natural environment and to compensate for damages caused by him or her to the environment.19

By 1994, 5 reserves and 479 protected areas had been designated (see Figure 9).20 A respect for nature permeates Estonian culture and the contemporary urban planning process.

Although Estonia averages a mere 50 m above sea level,21 the northwest part of Estonia, like much of Scandinavia, has been rising at a rate Figure 14 Tallinn’s Town Hall is one of few of 2.5 – 3 mm per year since the last glacial Gothic town halls preserved in Europe. The spire was added in 1628. 16 Ratas 1994: 4 17 Peterson 1994: 8 18 Ratas 1994: 5 19 Quoted in Peterson 1994: 6 20 Ratas 1994: 5 21 Peterson 1994: 6 

retreat.22 New islands are constantly emerging, and erratic rocks remain scattered across the Dominant tree species landscape. Less than one tenth of Estonia is in Estonia’s forests more than 100 m above sea level. Slight runoff include: and abundant (50-70 cm per year) also contribute to Estonia’s wetlands (see Figure Pinus sylvestris Scots pine 23 10). Estonia has over 1400 lakes. About Harilik mänd one quarter of the country (22-30%) is covered Betula pendula by wetlands, most of which are fens with an European white birch 24 average peat thickness of 3.2 m. Peat-lands Arukask as thick as 16.7 m and as old as 10,000 years Betula pubescens give archeologists insightful clues to the region’s Downy birch early history. Sookask

Picea abies Norway spruce Early Estonian History and Language Harilik kuusk Alnus incana Speckled alder Estonia was first inhabited during the glacial Hall lepp retreat of the Mesolithic period, and its earliest Alnus glutinosa settlements, at Sindi and Kunda, date to back the European alder 7th millennium BC25. Long history of settlement Sanglepp (must lepp) has contributed to Estonians’ strong tie to their Populus tremula land.26 The predominant theory is that Estonia’s European aspen first settlers were Finno-Ugric tribes, possibly Harilik haab (hall lepp) from the Ural Mountains or the Ukrainian Ice Age refuge.

Language

The ‘Ests’ separated from the Livonians in the first millennium BC, completing the last division of Baltic-Finnic tribes.27 While Livonian today is a dying language, with only around a dozen fluent speakers remaining, Estonian is spoken by more than one million people and staunchly defended as the official national language. The Lithuanian and Latvian languages are in the Indo-European language family, which is not related to Estonian.

As a result of early tribal affiliations, the Estonian language is most closely related to Finnish, Hungarian, Saami (Lapplandish), and several Volga River and Western Siberian tongues. These languages stand out in Europe as the Ural-Altaic, or Finno-Ugric, language family28 (see Figure Figure 15 The Town Hall is the terminal view for Viru Street. 22 Raukas 1996: 7, Peterson 1994: 8 23 Peterson 1994: 8 24 Peterson 1994: 8 25 Tarand 1980: 6 26 Laar 2002: 27 27 Tarand 1980: 9 28 Clemens 2003: 25 

11). Estonian language and genetic identity have been “shaped by all the peoples and cultures that swept through a vital crossroads of trade and war.”29 Certain linguistic peculiarities have led to further speculation of cultural contact with , although similarities between Estonia and Japan’s medieval architecture are hypothesized to be the result of commonalities of climate.30 The separateness of the Estonian language from Russian, spoken through the rest of the USSR, helped Estonia maintain its culture through Soviet occupation.

Cultural Ties to Scandinavia Figure 16 The tower Kiek-in-de-Kök is now a museum. Estonia’s cultural ties to Scandinavia have been more definitely established, leading one Estonian geographer to propose the idea of Baltoscandia.31 Estonia’s link to Scandinavia dates back to the 6th – 7th centuries AD, when periodic raids by Swedes encouraged the development of district town After http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia strongholds. Estonians were able to develop friendly relations with the Goths of . In more recent years, Estonia has looked towards Scandinavia for a model of modern culture that also respects historic tradition.

Medieval Tallinn

In the northern Estonian district of Rävala, the Toompea stronghold was built on a hill overlooking Figure 17 what is now Tallinn’s lower town. The first Tallinn’s small coat of arms recalls the Danish flag. written mention of the city of Tallinn occurred in 1154, and was recorded by the Arabian geographer Abu Mohhammed Idrisi.32 The Chronicle of Henricus de Lettis and the Liber Census Daniae concur that Tallinn was located 33 c. 1925 photo by O. Haidak, Viires 2004: 35 at the intersection of several major highways. With its desirable location and superior natural , Tallinn soon became an important, and hotly contested, trading center on the Baltic Sea within the Rävala district. Tallinn’s importance as a long-range trading center predated its 13th- century membership in the (see Figure 12).34 Figure 18 Pikk Street is a typical street in Old Town. 29 Clemens 2003: 27 30 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect 31 Edgar Kant, quoted in Lehti 2002: 432 32 Tarand 1980: 15 33 Pullat 1998: 17 34 Hackmann & Schweitzer 2002: 364 

Figure 19 Despite heavy tourism, the Town Hall marketplace retains its Early Tallinn was inhabited by craftsmen and medieval character. tradesmen. The town market place was situated in what is now the Town Hall Square, and its historic importance is reflected by this central location (see Figures 13-15). The main roads to the marketplace still exist in Old Town Tallinn today, along with many of the town’s early defensive towers. Parts of the town wall date back to the 13th century; some of the towers built before 1413 have preserved their medieval German names, for instance Kiek-in-de-Kök (see Figure 16).

As an important trading center, Tallinn in the was already rich in ethnic diversity. While Estonians and were the most represented, Swedes, and contributed to the diversity of the city. Trade with Finland was brisk, as coastal Finns got most of their goods from Tallinn. Tallinn’s privileged trading relationship with Finland dates back to a 1326 peace treaty, foreshadowing economic Figure 20 35 Müürivahe Street blends relations today. medieval character with plate glass window-shopping. In the early 13th century, the Baltic peoples were among the last pagans in Europe. A papal 1928 photo by Parikas, Viires 2004: 33 decree led to a crusade against pagan Estonia from 1208-1227. Tallinn and northern Estonia were conquered by Danish troops in 1219- 1220, despite the reinforcing support of military forces from the Russian towns of Novgorod and . Legend has it that Estonian troops were away from Tallinn at the time, but were able to liberate the city upon their return. Nevertheless, Figure 21 The , the city fell in turn to Germany, to the German at 17 Pikk Street, was the Great military organization the Order of the Knights Guild in 1410.

35 Pullat 1998: 65-68 10 After Rein Zobel 1996, of the Sword, and to Denmark over the next few decades. The following centuries brought Swedish, Tsarist Russian and Soviet colonists; even Scottish mercenaries looted the outskirts www.dickemauern.de/ tallinn_sm/grtallinn.htm of the city in 1573.36

The town wall that surrounds Old Town dates to the late , and is still visible as a trace of Danish conquest. Danish occupation led Estonians to rename the town known to the Germans as Reval (from the old Estonian names of Rävala or ) as taan(i) linn, or “Danish Figure 22 town.” The separation of Old Town’s raised Twenty-five towers remain in Old Town. fortress on Toompea dates back either to the Danish stronghold or to an earlier, pre-conquest fort that occupied the same site. Tallinn’s small coat of arms (see Figure 17), a white cross on red ground, was modeled after the Danish national flag. Legend has it that the rallied to conquer northern Estonia in 1219-1220 after this flag miraculously fell from the heavens in response to the Archbishop’s prayers.37

Membership in the Hanseatic League

In 1285, Tallinn joined the Hanseatic League, a union of trading cities centered on northern Figure 23 Germany. As a result, Tallinn enjoyed considerable Several town wall towers are visible from the spire of Oleviste autonomy as a center of trade between Europe Church. and Russia for the next 200 years.38 The most prized architecture in Tallinn’s Old town dates back to the 14th-16th centuries, and attests to close economic and cultural ties with Germany of the period.

Figure 24 Medieval Tallinn was a medium-sized city, by Snell Pond, the zig-zagging European standards, with a population of centerpiece of Toompark, 39 separates Old Town from the 4000 (according to the 1372 tax list). The Central Railway Station. , which still stands today, was constructed from 1371-1404. Tallinn’s streets in the 14th century were narrow and lined with plastered limestone houses40 (see Figures 18- 20).

In 1347, a subsidiary of the purchased the central and southern parts of Estonia, inaugurating 200 years of feudal disunion. Bishops of Saare-Läänemaa and

36 Pullat 1998: 77 37 Pullat 1998: 22 38 Pullat 1998: 21 39 Pullat 1998: 67 40 Tarand 1980: 26 11 1907 photo by R. von der Ley, Viires 2004: 46 controlled the west and southeast, respectively.41 Tallinn and northern Estonia remained part of the German-centered Hanseatic League for two centuries. Tallinn during this time dominated the connection to Russian trade centers such as Novgorod.

German merchants dominated the city through the privileges of class. Conflicts between native Estonians and the German were ongoing during this period, as Germans attempted to subjugate Estonians. Ethnic Estonians were subjected to increasing restrictions: losing the right to work in preferred professions and even, eventually, to trade with gold. Estonians were not allowed to participate in certain trades, and restrictions were placed on inter-ethnic marriages.42 However, German merchants needed to speak Estonian in order to conduct Figures 25a-b business, and took courses to learn the language. Viru Gate, renovated before 1907, remains the main Furthermore, feudal law specified that, after a pedestrian entrance to Old Town. year and a day, landlord nobles lost their claim on serfs who fled to Tallinn – leading to the adage, “City air makes free.”43

A guild system emerged in the mid-14th century, Figures 26a-b The Russian Market formerly associated with German merchant trades. occupied the space just outside Goldsmiths, butchers and tailors formed the Viru Gate. Viru Gate now links first trade guilds; later guilds were founded Town Hall Square to modern Tallinn and the Viru Hotel. for: stonemasons, blacksmiths, brewers, shoemakers, carpenters, carters, coopers, and 1926 photo by Parikas, Viires 2004: 47 even hemp-twisters.44 Several of the original guild remain (see Figure 21), and the medieval character of these surviving buildings contributes to the contemporary tourist appeal of Old Town.

The most conspicuous relic of Germanic/Danish rule is, of course, Tallinn’s city wall. Of the 2.35 km of wall built around the city during this period, almost 80% remains today. Tallinn was one of the most fortified towns of medieval Europe,45 with 35 towers along a wall up to 3 meters thick. Of the city’s six original gates, the only ones remaining today are Viru Gate and the Great Coast Gate, but 25 towers remain (see Figures 22-26). Snell Pond is all that remains of the town’s 16th century protective moat (see Figure 27). Buildings in medieval Tallinn were

41 Tarand 1980: 17 42 Pullat 1998: 72-73 43 Pullat 1998: 72 44 Pullat 1998: 54 45 Tallinn: A Medieval Pearl on the Baltic Sea 2005: 48 12 1930 photo, Viires 2004: 28 constructed of local limestone, in a heavy and massive Gothic . Many medieval buildings remain today which demonstrate medieval German and Danish influences, including: the Dome Church, Tallinn’s Town Hall, and the row of buildings known as the Three Sisters (see Figure 28).

Figures 27a-b The Great Coast Gate connected Although many medieval buildings remain in Tallinn Pikk Street to the harbor in (see Figures 29-34), UNESCO designated Old 1930, and filters auto traffic today. Town as a World Heritage Site mostly because the street layout has been preserved (see Figure 32).46 Pikk Street used to be the main street of the town, where the most important buildings were located. Pikk Jalg (Long Leg) and Lühike Jalg (Short Leg) streets connected Toompea to the lower town in the 13th and 14th centuries (see Figures 36-37).

The Lutheran

The Lutheran Reformation swept through Estonia on 14 September 1524, when approximately 500 people plundered the monasteries and churches in Tallinn. The convent and Tallinn monastery were destroyed by fire, for instance, although parts of these structures remain today (see Figures 38-39). Tallinn’s main Lutheran Church, the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin, was restored after a 1684 fire to reflect its original 13th century shape, and therefore does not reflect the usual minimal-Calvinist aesthetic (see Figure 40).

Tension between Estonians and Germans increased as a result of the Lutheran Reformation. The guild system in Tallinn declined in the late 1500s. During the (1558-1583), Tallinn attempted to block trade with Russia, effectively breaking from Germany and the Hanseatic League in 1559. Finally, Tallinn swore allegiance to Sweden in 1561 (see Figure 41). Under Swedish rule, Tallinn lost importance as a trade city but became Sweden’s center of colonial power in the Baltic. Figure 28 The oldest of the Three Sisters at 71 Pikk Street, dates to The democratic ideals of contributed 1415 (right). Typical of medieval to Estonia’s growing sense of national merchants’ homes are the front beams used to hoist cargo from identity, and also led to mass literacy once the street. the Bible was published in Estonian. However,

46 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect. 13

Christianity began to rout pagan customs only in the 1700s.47 Largely due to the influence of Lutheran Protestantism, the literacy rate in Estonia reached 97% in the 1890s.48 In 1726, only about 10% of peasants could read.49

Swedish Rule

Under Swedish rule, Tallinn’s trade declined. The city became less cosmopolitan and more provincial. The population of Tallinn, however, continued to grow, reaching 10,000 in 1688. Tallinn’s swelled with an influx of Estonians from rural areas, Germans, Swedes, Finns, Dutch sailors, Russians, and . Many unmarried Scandinavian men, particularly from the Åland Islands, Finland and northern Sweden, immigrated illegally to Tallinn to escape crop failure.50 While plague and famine contributed to general economic decline, the period of Swedish Figure 29 Rule was afterwards nostalgically referred to as The Church of the Holy Ghost was built no later than the first the Hea Vana Rootsi Aeg (Good Old Swedish Time). half of the 13th century. Swedish rule took steps to eradicate feudalism and to improve living conditions for peasants.51 The three lions on Tallinn’s large coat of arms and the Estonian national crest (see Figures 42a- b) were adopted from the Swedes, specifically from King Erik XIV, most likely as an anti-Danish statement.52 The Kristiine district was planned by the Swedish queen of the same name. Micro- variations in the environment makes Kristiine 2- 3° C warmer than the rest of Tallinn, and the Swedish monarch introduced canals to drain this area and to create fishponds, as she intended to use the area as a summer home (see Figures 43-47). The square canal in romanticist Löwenruh Park and Kristiine’s street grid of long, rectangular blocks were Tallinn’s Swedish inheritance. Also during this period, the village green surrounding Old Town was formalized as a park; the streets that ring Old Town today were derived from Baroque promenades.53

The war between Sweden and Poland (1600- 1629) imposed a new duty on Tallinn, that of billeting Swedish soldiers. Soldiers housed

47 Smith 2002: 4 48 Laar 2002: 30 49 Statistikaamet 2004: 19 50 Pullat 1998: 88 51 Smith 2002: 4 52 Pullat 1998: 23 53 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect.

57 per 2 Moscow 55 ). Construction for ). The only larger port on the on port larger only The ).

58 coveted the Baltic’s ice- Baltic’s the coveted Great the Peter Hill & Gaddy 2003: 59 Hill & Gaddy 2003: 61 Pullat 1998: 82 Moscow 1962: 73 Pullat 1998: 88 The Russian tsars’ appetite for land was 56 Figures 50-53 Figures 48-49 Figures 54

Estonia. townspeople townspeople were burdened by the additional thirty years earlier the population had been over Peter started building in Tallinn before his Palace started in 1719, while the Treaty of Baltic is St. Petersburg, Russia. Swedes planned to retake the city the following 54 55 56 57 58 by local residents were sometimes arbitrarily with Sweden was over Nystad incorporated Estonia and into land at an average rate of 35,000 km largely driven by “difficulties of conducting large- Council and the Swedish state increased, and largest passenger ferries to dock there today requirement to participate in the construction of participate to construction the requirement in reduced Tallinn’s reduced population Tallinn’s to 3,000 by 1718; more fortifications around the city. Furthermore, city. the around fortifications more plague broke out in the Baltics in 1710, as the (see (see needed a broader agricultural base to propel its scale cultivation around Moscow.” surrendered to Russian armies and did not give up their attempts until summer, in 1710. free ports as a “western window to the world.” the to portswindow free “western a as year. violent. Quarrels between the Tallinn City great that from 1550-1800, Russia conquered economic development and population growth. economic development and population Estonia under Tsarist Russia: Tsarist Estonia under Weakened Weakened by plague and siege, Tallinn

Peter the Great The “expansionary zeal” of the Tsars was so Tsarist Russian army of Peter the Great besieged Great the Peter of army Russian Tsarist Tallinn – bringing an end to Swedish rule in Tsarist Russia in 1721. Plague, famine and war and famine Plague, 1721. in Russia Tsarist The port in Tallinn is deep enough for even the 1715. 10,000. 1710-1917 14 1907 photo by R. von der Ley, Viires 2004: 29 The patron saint of the guild, the African bachelor’s Mauritius, protects this 1597 doorway. The house of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads (center) is one of few remaining Renaissance and occupies buildings in Tallinn 26 Pikk Street. Figure 31 Figure 30 15 Bruns 1993: 39

Figure 35 A figure-ground study shows Old Town’s medieval street layout. 16 1910 photo by J. Christin, Viires 2004: 10 The Baltic wielded considerable influence even in the Russian court,59 and living conditions for peasants deteriorated rapidly under Tsarist rule. Serfs, directly owned by landlords, were even worse off than peasants, but both groups were “eventually bound to the land that they farmed and subsisted on.”60 Figure 33 Serfs were no better off than farm animals, and The Gothic steeple of Oleviste “could be traded for dogs.”61 Uprisings in 1805 Church was built to facilitate and 1858 resulted in the public punishment navigation. At 159 m, Oleviste Church was one of the world’s of peasants in Tallinn squares (see Figure 54), tallest buildings of the 15th-16th and contributed to general dissatisfaction with centuries. The spire was later reduced to a height of 123 m, the Tsarist regime. was abolished in after being struck by lightning Estonia in 1816-1819, but peasants still held repeatedly. many unresolved grievances.

During Tsarist rule, the Russian Orthodox Cathedral (see Figures 5, 55- 56) was positioned on Toompea to dominate the silhouette of the city, and to replace a monument to Martin Luther. The cathedral’s bulbous spires were added later, reflecting a Historicist style.

Kadriorg Palace

Other traces of Tsarist rule on the city include the complex and grounds (see Figures 57-62), and expansions in Tallinn’s rail and industry. Kadriorg remains one of Tallinn’s most treasured parks, and the palace’s ‘birthday’ is a city holiday each year. The recent installation of 500,000 roses was a diplomatic endeavor by the city, as Russians are particularly drawn to Kadriorg. Tsar Peter built Kadriorg Palace for his wife; although Catherine never set foot in Tallinn, the Baroque site remains a sort of Tsarist botanical museum. Many (especially Russian) couples visit it on their wedding day, as part of the traditional photographic tour to produce a thick album of wedding pictures. Figure 34a Oleviste Church still dominates The head architects and engineer for the project the skyline today. were Italians, and the estate shows a strong Baroque influence. The grounds, for instance, were divided into an Upper and Lower Garden, and featured pools, fountains and cascades in a rigidly symmetrical layout (see Figure 63). Kadriorg’s grounds were developed before the palace, and hundreds of trees were planted from

59 Smith 2002: 5 60 Hill & Gaddy 2003: 105 61 Moscow 1962: 94 17

1717-1718.62 Construction came secondary to parks.63

The location of Kadriorg was a strategic decision in the war with Sweden. From his second-floor corner office in the Kadriorg palace, Peter the Great had axial views of both Tallinn’s port and Old Town. The center axis of the Kadriorg grounds and the perpendicular road to the port reflect the palace’s defensive location (see Figures 64- 66). The port view was later modified by the 1902 addition of a statue commemorating a lost Tsarist ship, the “Russalka” (see Figures 67-69).

Tsarist Planning Figure 34b Oleviste Church is visible from many points in the city. Top-down Tsarist regional planning continually ignored social and economic ties at the local level. In the 1850s, summer homes and resort buildings sprung up around Kadriorg (see Figure 70). The radially arranged neighborhood of Kadriorg became a Tsarist mark on the city (see Figures 71-72).64 Tallinn briefly enjoyed the status of a holiday resort, foreshadowing its popularity as a tourist destination almost 150 years later. The Nõmme district was originally constructed as a summer resort of Tallinn (see Figures 73-76).65

Industrialization and the foundation of the Central Baltic Railway Works, however, rapidly turned Tallinn into an industrial city. Tsarist Russia built thousands of kilometers of rail lines from 1866- 1876, and the expansion of industry provided new jobs for peasants.66 The location of the industrial rail-yard in the Põhja-Tallinn district was a Tsarist inheritance. While it made sense to locate industry in this area from the 1870s- 1900s, because of Tallinn’s second deep port in Bay, the rail-yard is perilously close to Old Town and the center city (see Figures 77-79). Figure 35 The rail transport of hazardous and flammable Oleviste Church was named after its master builder, Olev, who fell substances near the city center worries city as he was placing a cross to officials today. finish the spire. The Oleviste spire is open to the public, but entails a 259-step climb and a precariously narrow catwalk.

62 Tamm et al 1988: 175 63 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect. 64 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect. 65 Kink & Raukas 1997: 21 66 Moscow 1962: 103 18 1907 photo by R. von der Ley, Viires 2004: 39

Figure 36 The Long Leg gate tower was first built in 1380 and was rebuilt two stories taller in the 1450s. c. 1905 photo by R. von der Ley, Viires 2004: 40)

Figures 37a-c Short Leg has been a pedestrian link between Toompea and lower town since the 1230s.

The shortcut has scarcely changed; the gatehouse, built from 1454-1456, is still closed at 9 pm. 19 Tallinn: A Medieval Pearl on the Baltic Sea Industrialization

Industrialization in Tallinn occurred at the end of the period of Tsarist rule, and was most rapid in the second half of the 1880s. The town’s medieval gates were demolished in the 1870s-1890s,67 as Russia’s tsars decided the

locations of Tallinn’s industry. The opening of rail 2005: 41 communication with St. Petersburg increased Tallinn’s export trade tenfold,68 and medieval Figure 38 craft guilds were abolished. In 1883, the city Monks from the Dominican forbade the construction of wooden Monastery founded in 1246 near major roads, due to fire hazard concerns.69 were expelled in 1525. The Monastery was destroyed by fire Construction exploded in the 1890s, leading in 1531 but parts of the original the city to commission a town plan in 1894. structure and walls remain. The Monastery is now used as Plans from 1828-1897, however, covered only a theater between Vene and portions of the city, and even August Mickwitz’s Müürivahe Streets. survey of 1909 was incomplete.

The number of workers increased rapidly (see Figure 80), from 9,800 laborers in 1871 to 30,000 factory workers in 1917.70 From 1913- 1917, Tallinn’s shipyards attracted skilled laborers from Russia’s interior, and consequently Tallinn housed 30,000 industrial workers in 1917.71 The Russian Revolution (1917) and the Estonian War of Independence (or Estonian Liberation War, 1918-1920) interrupted industrialization. According to a Tallinn historian:

Antagonisms inherent in the industrial system were.… aggravated in Tallinn by the survival of strong feudal tendencies interlocked, as a local peculiarity, with national conflicts.72

A coalition of Estonians and Russians beat out of the Tallinn town council for the first time in 1904. Finally empowered to shift the focus of municipal attention away from the German-centered Old Town, the city council made rapid infrastructure improvements in the suburbs. A second building boom emerged in 1908-1909.73 While paving roads and installing sewage lines, gas pipes and street lamps, the city commissioned a survey of the city in 1910 (see Figure 81) and a plan for a new town hall Figures 39a-b to reflect the emerging spirit of democracy (see The Pirita Monastery was destroyed in 1577, but its stone Figure 82). The city also entertained proposals walls and cemetery remain.

67 Hallas-Murula 2005: 50 68 Pullat 1998: 109 69 Hallas-Murula 2005: 80 70 Pullat 1998: 128 71 Pullatt 1998: 127-128 72 Pullat 1998: 121 73 Hallas-Murula 2005: 78 20

for development of the former police yard, Politseiaed (see Figures 83-84).

While Tallinn rapidly evolved from a provincial town to an industrial city, the idea of an independent Estonian republic entered political discourse.74 A Baltic German society was founded to investigate local folklore in 1838,75 and in the 1850s, a small elite coined the term Eesti (Estonia). The period from 1860-1917 is known as Ärkämiseaeg76 (the Time of Awakening). Before then, Estonian peasants had referred to themselves simply as maarahvas (country people).77 While today independence is often hailed as the fulfillment of Estonian destiny, the poet Juhan Liiv’s claim that ‘one day there will be an Estonian state’ sounded fanciful when first proclaimed in 1910.78

The Rise of Estonian Nationalism

The publication of Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald’s epic poem (The Son of ) in 1861 helped promote a sense of national identity, and synthesized traditional Estonian folk poetry into a nationalist mythology. Disseminated widely only in the 1920s-1930s, the epic embodied prominent Estonian themes of the 20th century, including: devotion to nature, distrust of imported Christianity, and “a central place for song in the maintenance and protection of the nation”.79 While the hero Kalevipoeg is somewhat flawed and awkward, even managing at one point to cut off his legs with his own sword, he protects Figures 40a-b Estonia by blocking the Gate to Hades with his Estonia’s main Lutheran church, legless body and fighting off devils. The metaphor the Dome Church, is one of three functioning medieval of resistance to foreign rule is clear. churches in Tallinn. The first Song Festival in Tallinn (1869, ostensibly in honor of the tsar’s birthday) followed the publication of Kalevipoeg, drew 10,000,80 and foreshadowed the so-called ‘Singing Revolution’ that helped Estonia regain its independence in the late Soviet period. Over a hundred years after the inaugural 1869 event, the song festivals in the post-Soviet period drew hordes of singers (34,000 in 2004)81 and spectators (100,000).

74 Smithi 2002: xii 75 Smith 2002: 5 76 Smith 2002: 2 77 Smith 2002: 3 78 Smith 2002: xii 79 Clemens 2003: 33 80 Smith 2002: 7 81 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005 21 www.rre-sfe.ee/ ee/ee_ajalugu.htm

Figure 41 Swedes colonized the Baltic and transformed Tallinn (Reval) into a provincial town. 22

Under Tsarist rule, such demonstrations were not tolerated. In a 1905 demonstration, the Russian military opened fire on labor movement demonstrators in Tallinn; 90 people were killed and over 200 wounded (see Figure 85).

www/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia Civil war broke out in Tsarist Russia from 1918- 1920. With popular sentiment firmly entrenched against Tsarist rule, however, the February Revolution triumphed early in Estonia on 15 March 1917 (see Figures 86a-b). Like the other Baltic countries, Estonia first demanded autonomy then declared (and fought for) its independence. The left-wing cultural movement Noor Eesti (Young Estonia) urged its proponents to “remain Estonians but become Europeans.”82

Saarinen’s Plan for Tallinn: 1913

Shaking off seven centuries of foreign rule was not easy for the tiny, formative country of Estonia. In the tumultuous years preceding 1918, Estonia respected and wanted to emulate Finland’s more rapidly increasing independence from Russia. (As an administratively separate Grand Duchy of the , Finland had enjoyed greater autonomy for over a century; Finland declared full independence a year before Estonia, in 1917.) For instance, the national anthems for Estonia and Finland share a common source. In a second strategic move designed to emphasize Figures 42a-b Tallinn’s connection with Helsinki, the city The Estonian crest and Tallinn’s awarded Eliel Saarinen the commission to draft large coat-of-arms were adopted a masterplan for the Tallinn town center and City from the Swedes. Port in 1913.83 Officially, Saarinen received his commission as the result of a design competition. The city decided in November of 1911 that a design competition would be the best way to produce a comprehensive plan for Tallinn, and chose Saarinen to serve as their consultant from 1911-1913. Saarinen’s design competition entry seal, a crest with three gold lions, reflected his insider status (see Figure 87).

Design Competition Terms

82 Smith 2002: 11 83 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect 23 Linna Arhiiv

Figure 43 Alle Christenen Thale, shown on a 1689 map, preceded modern Tallinn’s Kristiine district. (Note: North arrow points down.) 24 Linna Arhiiv

Figure 44 1688 map shows long, rectangular lots. Linna Arhiiv Linna Arhiiv Linna Arhiiv Property division in 1699 are still produced lots lines that visible today. Figure 45 25 The , Figure ). Djomkin In reality, reality, In 85 letter had already had letter

Figure 89 The Canberra plan is plan Canberra The 86

84 ) required several volleys of Hallas-Murula 2005: 87 Djomkin 1977 City Landscape Architect. Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, Figure 88 ). Saarinen produced the Canberra plan

the Tallinn plan in parts (see the Tallinn the 8 April 1913 deadline. Three of these were these of Three deadline. 1913 April 8 the Finnish and English. February of 1912, and received five entries on 84 85 86 Saarinen began work on the Tallinn plan in 1911, in plan Tallinn the on work began Saarinen Saarinen’s Saarinen’s plan for Tallinn closely resembles Saarinen offered some explanation of the plan Saarinen’s 51-page explanatory 51-page Saarinen’s Saarinen’s Saarinen’s plan, even if that was later hidden Saarinen’s Saarinen’s work was pivotal in Tallinn’s city by Daniel Burnham’s plan for Chicago (see Chicago for plan Burnham’s Daniel by been published in German (1921) and in Russian in and (1921) German in published been because of the “rather inadequate organisation” housing district of Mukkiniemi, which resembles Landscape Architect, “All plans for Tallinn followed followed Tallinn for plans “All Architect, Landscape plans that he drafted for other cities. Saarinen’s Saarinen’s cities. other for drafted he that plans plan’s plan’s 23 color illustrations, but Hallas-Murula planning. According to the present City plan went ‘missing’ during the Soviet occupation, plan had to compete with only one other entry. working for the Helsinki firm that planned the new the planned that firm Helsinki the for working was the first to translate the written portion written portion of the plan. which supposedly explained why the plan was not was plan the why explained supposedly which (1918) and Perth (1922). Perth and (1918) (1977) and Hallas-Murula (2005) published the (1916) before Soviet planners ‘misplaced’ the (see immediately immediately discarded as not conforming to the followed by plans for Canberra (1912), Helsinki for Greater Tallinn in his 1961 (English) text (English) 1961 his in Tallinn Greater for from sight.” The written portion of Saarinen’s very well known in Estonia or abroad. or Estonia in known verywell an outlier in this group, as it was heavily influenced heavily was it as group, this in outlier an career in urban planning had begun only in 1910, in only begun had planning urban in career correspondence. competition requirements; in the end, Saarinen’s Saarinen’s end, the in requirements; competition of Saarinen’s plan from German into Estonian, of the competition; even procuring a base map

Apparently few firms were able to compete City: Its Growth, Its Decay, Its Future. Saarinen’s Influence Saarinen’s 90 The city set the terms for the competition in 26

under a tight competition deadline; afterwards, he was careful to address the plan for Tallinn in more detail. Saarinen chose to work with many of the existing features of Tallinn, preserving Old Town and the greenbelt at the foot of Toompea in accordance with the 1906 city plan.

Even though it came early in his career, the Tallinn plan (see Figure 91) embodies Saarinen’s main planning motifs. Saarinen repeated features of his Tallinn plan in Helsinki and Perth. Common characteristics of the three port city plans include: satellite centers, focal traffic arteries, linear greenways, and a formal, axial arrangement of streets focusing attention at genius loci. All three plans also use occasionally forceful architecture to punctuate space against Figure 46 a backdrop of neutral buildings. The 17th-century canal remains the focus of Löwenruh Park.

Saarinen’s Plans for Growth

Saarinen planned for almost exactly the right amount of growth in Tallinn. Unable to anticipate Tallinna 2005: 54 Ortofotoatlas the setbacks of war, he predicted that the city’s population would reach 500,000 in the year 2000. Tallinn’s population flirted with that number in 1989 before shrinking in the post-Soviet era due to Russian emigration in the early 1990s (see Figure 92). Saarinen estimated that Tallinn had the capacity to house 665,000,87 and that Old Town could accommodate 50,000; in 2004, there were 42,196 residents in Old Town.88

One of Saarinen’s primary concerns was the density of wooden housing around the center city (see Figures 93-94). Several new wooden row-house neighborhoods were constructed from 1900-1920, despite the city’s attempt to Figure 47 force developers to use more fire-safe materials. An aerial view of Löwenruh Park shows the trace of a square Construction was particularly fast from 1911- canal. 1913, as developers feared the city council would prohibit wooden housing in the center city altogether.89 To accommodate population growth, Saarinen targeted new areas for development outside the center city area. Specifically, he proposed to house 52,000 residents in 25 years and 143,000 in 2000 in a new , Lasnamäe. The Parisian Boulevards of the 1850s visibly influenced Saarinen, along with all of European

87 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 88 Hallas-Murula 2005: 103 89 Hallas-Murula 2005: 80 27 Linna Arhiiv photo Linna Arhiiv planning at the time; before 1918, there were only a few multi-story, stone apartment buildings in Tallinn. The idea of Garden Suburbs entered into planning discourse in Estonia in 1911-1912, and was popular with the Tallinn press.

A second major issue that Saarinen addressed was the constriction of shipping and traffic in the center city area. While in 1908 there were Figure 48 only six cars in Tallinn, Saarinen expected that Huge passenger ships access 94 Tallinn with ease, demonstrating traffic, in one form or another, would increase. why Peter the Great coveted He proposed a network of tram and train lines Tallinn’s deep and ice-free ports. throughout the city (see Figure 95), and specified that road corridors be left generously wide in order to accommodate future transportation. Saarinen felt that electric trams best met the city’s transportation needs, and suggested an express tram to Pirita. Saarinen’s most radical proposal, which the city was unfortunately not able to implement, was to move the industrial rail station south, between Old Town and Lake Ülemiste.

Saarinen divided his plan into two phases: short and long term. By separating goals into 25- and 100- year periods, he meant to make the plan’s implementation as practicable as possible. While the proposed road network was essentially formal, Saarinen left his plan still somewhat open- ended. He had no intention, for instance, that the city should construct the completely uniform 6-story buildings exactly as planned (see Figures 96-97); rather, Saarinen was more interested in identifying important nodes and zones for growth. Saarinen afterwards explained that he wanted Figure 49 Tallinn’s port is visible from his plan to remain flexible, dynamic, and able the shore near the monument to be implemented in a number of ways.90 He “Russalka” which commemorates achieved this through zoning. The only building a shipwreck. that was built exactly as Saarinen proposed is the Estonian Opera and Theater (see Figures 98- 100). Saarinen’s plan, with some modifications, was incorporated into Tallinn’s masterplan of 1914.

90 Djomkin 1977: 12 28 Linna Arhiiv

Figure 50 1766 map shows Tsar Peter’s Kadriorg. 29

Possible Soviet Appropriation

One node that Saarinen identified as important was the Russian Market (see Figures 101a-b). He proposed a new town hall for the site, with a high-rise tower that would attract attention to the new urban node. One indication that Soviet planners made use of the 1913 plan is the fact that the only downtown high-rise built during the occupation made use of precisely this spot. In recent years, the Viru Hotel complex has attracted a rapidly expanding maze of interconnected shopping, and is a virtual beehive of commerce (see Figures 102-105). Linna Arhiiv The most obvious indications that Soviet planners relied heavily on Saarinen’s ‘lost’ plan can be found in the district of Lasnamäe. Saarinen planned Lasnamäe to house the city’s upper middle-class residents. Lasnamäe, where intense development began in 1977, housed a working-class population of 109,516 as of 2004.91 Lasnamäe is not the utopian suburb that Saarinen imagined; when construction plans for the high-rise housing district were publicly revealed, one journalist commented, “Tallinn is building a chest of drawers.”92 Soviet planners allocated new housing to Lasnamäe and Mustamäe to compensate for historic wooden housing that burned during World War II. Figure 51 1773 map shows fortifications Tarand’s 1980 Reader on the History of Estonian around the center city. Urban Architecture proudly describes the innovative Soviet proposal to channel high-speed through-roads below slower traffic in these new housing districts. Sunken corridors would avoid awkward intersections of traffic at different speeds. The Soviet-attributed illustrations in Tarand 1980 were suspiciously similar to Saarinen’s traffic sections (see Figure 106). Lagna Road through Lasnamäe was indeed built as a channel, and at such an immense scale that the city had to later label each to give residents their bearings (see Figure 107). The 1972 plan also considered moving the railroad station south.

Similar to the case of the Russian Market and , the node that Saarinen identified as a focal point in Lasnamäe was also emphasized

91 Hallas-Murula 2005: 103 92 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect. Linna Arhiiv Bruns 1993: 83 30 1856 map shows the preserved greenbelt around Old Town. 1808 map shows pre-industrial Kopli and an emerging Paljasaare. Figure 53 Figure 52 c. 1900 photo, Viires 2004: 43 c. 1900 photo, Viires 2004: 78 The 1930s removal of the gold plate from the onion cupolas makes the principal difference in appearance Nevsky Cathedral’s today. Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas Tsars II built Nevsky Cathedral in the late 1800s. In 1858, 51 peasants were In 1858, 51 peasants in the forced to run the gauntlet protesting Russian Market after provinces their treatment in the of Kurisoo and . Figure 56 Figure 55 Figure 54 31 Figure 108- ). Of course, it’s a distinct ). Because of the designation ). The German occupation, which ). to resolve conflicts with Russia and halted large- the proposed green belts were re-introduced the planning office might have drawn in Saarinen in drawn have might office planning the their Soviet planners tried to imitate Saarinen’s Other Soviet-built housing districts also show Saarinen’s Saarinen’s 1913 plan. One day before German Saarinen’s Saarinen’s plans for open space. A number of Saarinen’s Saarinen’s influence. Väike—Õismäe and borders of Saarinen’s plan closely resemble the by the 1972 plan. These repeating ‘waves of by Soviet planners. In Lasnamäe, the regimented regimented the Lasnamäe, In planners. Soviet by regularity regularity of the street grid suddenly breaks into More faithfully reproduced, however, were Mustamäe have street layouts that look as if planned, the locations are quite consistent (see possibility that an influential Estonian or two in lost Tallinn’s to references as deliberately, motifs independence. scale industry in Estonia. followed on the heels of this proclamation, failed city’s limits today. city’s approach without being obvious about it (see a haphazard axial arrangement (see green’ were considered again by the post-Soviet occupation forces entered Tallinn on 24 February 24 on Tallinn entered forces occupation of large park areas like the Botanic Gardens, the Gardens, Botanic the like areas park large of each individual park differs from what Saarinen Independence: 1918-1940 2005 plan. Even if the actual structure of World World War I delayed the implementation of Saarinen’s Plans for Greenspace Saarinen’s Figure 115 Figures 113-114 Figures 110-112 1918, Estonia became officially independent (see independent officially became Estonia 1918, The First Period of Estonian 109 32

The Estonian War of Independence

During the Estonian War of Independence (1918- 1920), Estonia fought successfully against Bolshevik Russia’s new , and neutralized other threats (from counterrevolutionary White Russian, Baltic German, and Reich German forces).

Military and indirect aid from Finland, Britain, Figure 57 France and Poland helped the new Baltic The Baroque Kadriorg Palace states repel the Red Army, and Soviet Russia and park were begun in 1718 93 for Tsar Peter I as a summer acknowledged Baltic independence in 1920. residence. However, the USSR felt “special enmity and aversion” to Finnish and Baltic independence, considering it to be a “temporary phenomenon.”94 A 1928 secret Red Army report entitled “The Future War” explicitly stated that continuing Baltic independence was an obstacle to Soviet access to key ports. According to the General Staff of the Red Army, independence:

Would generate significant obstructions to economic development in the .… From the economic point of view, the independent Figure 58 existence of those dwarf states is not justified.95 Kadriorg was named for Peter’s wife Catherine, who declined to set foot in Tallinn, despite such allurements as Swan Pond. Formation of the Estonian Parliament

Estonians meanwhile went about setting up their sovereign state filled with hope for the future. All adult residents of Estonian could participate in the election of the (Parliament). Furthermore, as an independent republic, Estonia took immediate steps to protect the civil rights and cultural autonomy of its ethnic minorities, who formed 12% of the population.96 The first Estonian Congress of Jewish congregations Figure 59 had proposed the idea of cultural autonomy in The continuing popularity of the Kadriorg grounds is probably 1919. The 1918 declaration of independence rooted in its established trees included a clause guaranteeing ‘national-cultural and naturalistic grounds. autonomous rights’ of the minorities living in the republic.

93 Clemens 2003: 22 94 Tannberg & Tarvel 2006: 81 95 Quoted in Tannberg & Tarvel 2006: 82 96 Alenius 2004: 34 33

Ethnic Relations

Ethnic relations in Estonia were relatively peaceful and tolerant.97 Although different groups occasionally resorted to verbal aggression, there were few incidents physical ethnic violence while Germans and Russians were displaced from positions of political power. The closest the country came to ethnic unrest accompanied land reform in 1919. Baltic Germans were resented for their privileged status as the land-owning elite. Their manorial estates were confiscated by the new Estonian government and redistributed to veterans of the War of Independence. In a 1919 anti-German Labor Party speech, Aleksander

Veilar proclaimed: Figure 60 Water is intricately manipulated When you want to slaughter an animal you start at Kadriorg. by breaking the backbone. The [German] manors have been the backbone of the barons.98

Relations with Jews were also intermittently tense. However, the arrest of a radical anti- Semitic group between 1923-1924 contributed to Estonia’s position as one of the least anti- Semitic nations in the 1920s.99

Similar to Sweden’s contemporary Hemspråk (Home Language) educational policy, the 1920 Estonian constitution legislated the right of ethnic minorities to receive in their native language.100 A signed contract guaranteeing minority rights was conditional to Estonia’s admittance to the League of Nations in 1922. In districts where minorities formed the majority, two official languages were promised. Estonia acknowledged the need for minority support to secure its position against Soviet Russia and Estonian .101 According to one historian,

A people of barely one million members just could not afford to be arrogantly egotistic.102

A failed Communist coup-d’état in December 1924 further underscored the need for the political support of minorities;103 on February 5 of the next year, Estonia “adopted the most

97 Alenius 2004: 32 98 Alenius 2004: 36 99 Alenius 2004: 43-44 100 Smith 2002: 14 101 Alenius 2004: 33-35 102 Alenius 2004: 33 103 Alenius 2004: 38 34

liberal ethnic minorities law in Europe.”104 This law allowed any minority group of over 3000 to form a self-administering public-legal corporation, entitled to run its own cultural affairs without government interference.105

Essentially, the cultural autonomy law gave minorities “a share of state sovereignty,”106 and facilitated the provision of schools in minorities’ native languages. While Swedish and Russian Figure 61 factions never chose to organize themselves Kadriorg’s oak savanna offers under this principle of cultural autonomy, the balance of ‘prospect’ and ‘refuge’ that studies indicate may German and Jewish minorities took advantage of be an instinctual preference. the policy to form their own schools. Also, 20 German lecturers were appointed to positions within Tartu University.107

Twenty years after its introduction, the cultural autonomy law was considered “a model which should guide the post-war reconstruction of Central and Eastern Europe.”108 Ethnic integration was emphasized as important to the political security of the tiny nation of Estonia, where, in 1934, 14.4% of Tallinn’s population was composed of minorities.109

Keren Kajamet, the Jewish National Endowment, honored the Estonian government with a certifi- cate of gratitude for introducing its cultural autonomy law. In 1926, the Jewish Cultural Council was elected to represent 3045 members. By 1934, the number of Jews living in Estonia 110 Figure 62 had reached 4381. A few outlying buildings on the Kadriorg grounds have fallen into disrepair. Industrialization and Rapid Expansion

Despite such forward-thinking cultural policies,

Linna Arhiiv the first period of Estonian independence was fraught with post-war economic hardship and political instability. Progress, however, was rapid, and industry revived through the expansion of home markets. By the 1930s, industry generated nearly a third of Estonian national income, remaining, however, less important than agriculture and holding a smaller proportion of Figure 63 employment.111 Industry remained focused in the 1828 map of Kadriorg grounds reveals a strong emphasis on axes. 104 Laar 2002: 34 105 Housden 2004: 231 106 Housden 2004: 231 107 Housden 2004: 233 108 Housden 2004: 232 109 Pullat 1998: 8 110 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Estonia 111 Mertelsmann 2003: 153 35

same areas designated by the tsars, particularly , Põhja-Tallinn and Kopli, due to the location of the industrial port and rail-yard (see Figures 116-117).112

Rapid expansion, however, was not conducive to careful town planning. Baltic Germans, who had founded Estonia’s ‘Garden Schools,’ controlled Tallinn’s parks through the 1930s as the city’s wealthiest citizens.113 Elsewhere in Tallinn, the Figure 64 The strong axis to the harbor lack of a city plan contributed to haphazard remains a popular pedestrian growth. The most rapid growth occurred in route, although its terminal view districts near Old Town, leading the city to impose is now blocked by “Russalka.” more regular streets on the city’s outskirts to try to shape expansion (see Figures 118-119).114 The residential area that Saarinen and the city’s planners had identified as problematic in the 1910s continued to proliferate. Residential development quickly surrounded the industrial rail-yard built in the Tsarist era, partly because factories provided housing for their workers, just as the tsars had done.115 The residential areas of Põhja-Tallinn and Kopli expanded in rapid blocks of identical wooden row houses, many of which remain today (see Figures 120-121).

Figure 65 New woods have blocked the 112 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect view of Old Town from Peter’s 113 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect office. Some think these trees 114 Tarand 1980: 66 should be removed to restore 115 Personal communication, Oksana Ovtsinnik, PR and International Relations the historic design of the palace grounds, as at Toompea’s Patrull Stairs. Tallinna 2005: ii, 35-36 Ortofotoatlas

Figure 66 The axial views of Old Town and the sea from Kadriorg reflect the palace’s strategic location. 36 1905 photo by R. von der Ley, Viires 2004: 123 The Era of Silence

A spirit of democracy flourished in Estonia until the early 1930s, but was then undermined by economic depression and the progressively authoritarian rule of President Konstantin Päts. The years from 1934-1940 have been dubbed Figures 67a-b Vaikiv Ajastu (The Era of Silence).116 Consolidated The 1905 setting of the statue “Russalka” contrasts with authoritarian rule emerged under Päts in 1938, surrounding traffic today. and the motives for his actions remain ethically questionable. While Päts dealt with the threat of a right wing coup, he has been criticized since as a self-serving politician, thirsty for power at any cost, even as a puppet head of a Nazi or Soviet state.117 Despite his heavy promotion of German investment, Päts was not able to deter 5,200 Germans from leaving Tallinn in 1938. Sensing trouble, other foreign citizens soon followed.

In August 1939, and Josef Stalin negotiated a secret agreement, as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, to divide Eastern Europe between their two dictatorial regimes. The northern boundary of Lithuania was to divide the Baltic states (defined as Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) between Germany and the USSR.118 This secret initiative became known to Estonia within three days. There was a massive exodus, under Hitler’s orders, of the Baltic Germans from the ‘Soviet sphere of influence.’ Many German families had forged strong cultural and historic ties to the Baltic, and most were both wealthy and well educated. The departure of 20,000 Germans from Estonia within a few months was, socially and politically, problematic.119 1907 photo, Viires 2004: 13 The USSR massed 437,235 troops against the Estonian and Latvian borders between September and October of 1939.120 President Päts failed to mobilize a standing army larger than 8,000, deciding it was preferable to face an uncertain fate under Soviet control than Figure 68 certain decimation.130 The “silent submission” In 1907, Old Town could still be of Estonia’s government contrasted sharply with seen from Kadriorg’s shore. the attitude of the majority, which was “prepared to fight, ready to defend the independence.”121 In September, the Baltic States were forced to allow basing rights to 25,000 Soviet troops,

116 Smith 2002: 20 117 Smith 2002: 25-26 118 Smith 2002: 22 119 Rahi-Tamm 2005: 38 120 Tannberg & Tarvel 2006: 84 121 Tannberg & Tarvel 2006: 87 37

although it was claimed that the Red Army would not interfere in domestic policy. By the summer of 1940, 66,946 Soviet troops were based in the Baltic.

The Annexation of the Baltics

Finland resisted a similar imposition when the USSR demanded part of the Karelian Isthmus, leading to Stalin’s reluctant invasion on November 30, 1939 and heavy Soviet casualties in the Talvisota () that followed. Stalin’s attack was ruled as illegal and Russia was expelled from the League of Nations two weeks Figure 69a later; Allied forces threatened to intervene. The statue Russalka is a popular Outnumbered four to one, Finland ceded 10% place for Russian couples to take wedding pictures. of its territory and 20% of its industry to Russia for 30 years beginning in March of 1940.122 Hostilities between Russia and Finland resumed the next year in the form of the . According to one specialist,

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest the Soviet dictator feared the possible international repercussions of an all-out attack on Estonia in . Indeed, had this not been the case, it seems doubtful that he [Stalin] would have been so scrupulous in attempting to give a legal veneer to the subsequent forcible annexation of the Baltics. It is thus intriguing to speculate whether a more robust response on Figure 69b Russalka holds tsarist and the part of the Estonian leadership would have Orthodox associations and offers given the Soviets pause for thought.”123 sweeping views of the harbor.

Estonia deposited 11 tons of its gold reserve abroad in the first half of 1940.124 Lithuania was targeted for the first Soviet invasion, under the May pretext that Soviet troops had gone missing 1937 photo, Linna Arhiiv in Lithuania. In early June, Soviet troops were made combat-ready, and in mid-June the People’s Commissariat of the Interior of the Soviet Union announced it was ready to accept 65,500 Baltic prisoners of war.125 On 21 , 90,000 additional Soviet troops marched into Estonia to complete the coup (see Figure 122).

Figure 70 This house on Weizenbergi Street is typical of the spread of residential growth near Kadriorg in the early 1900s.

122 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War 123 Smith 2002: 25 124 Smith 2002: 27 125 Tannberg & Tarvel 2006: 86 38 Linna Arhiiv

Figure 71 1865 map shows growth in Põhja-Tallinn east of the center city, as well as Lake Ülemiste before it was dammed. Eesti Kaardikeskus 2005: 62-63

Figure 72 The radial street layout in Kadriorg neighborhood betrays a Renaissance influence. 39

Early Soviet Occupation: 1940-1941

During the Soviet occupation that followed, Estonia’s borders were closed, trade was restricted, and a puppet government was ‘elected’ to add a veneer of legitimacy to the ‘genuine revolution.’ The USSR (and, in recent years, Russian Federation President Putin) claimed that the Baltic countries voluntarily petitioned for membership in the Soviet Union. In fact, labor demonstrations and press releases were staged, and President Päts was used to draft an application for membership in the USSR before being forced to resign. The public statue of President Päts was destroyed on 8 November 1940, after which Päts was deported to Russia Figure 73 with other political and military leaders of the Baron Nikolai von Glehn built this 126 eclectic residence in Nõmme Baltic countries. in 1886. The Glehn castle grounds have been designated as Nõmme-Mustamäe Maastikukaitseala (Nõmme- Guerrilla Resistance Mustamäe Landscape Reserve).

An Estonian resistance movement formed immediately, once it was clear that legal opposition had failed. When the national volunteer defense organization Kaitseliit was disbanded, individual members hid their weapons and proposed armed resistance. Cell leaders were arrested and deported, but ordinary members hid in the forests. Their ranks swelled with Soviet repression, and more people went into hiding. According an Estonian national archive specialist,

In spite of the systematic Soviet security service operations, they could not halt the growth of the resistance movement. By the summer of 1941 underground groups of like-minded people had grown up all over Estonia... The main goal of the civilian resistance movement was to join forces, and its main method was counter- propaganda.127

On 14 June 1941, more than 10,000 Estonians were deported to prison camps or exile in . This unprecedented action surprised and terrorized the populace, and resulted in mass flight. “The widespread underground population was born, hiding mostly in forests, looking for arms, and preparing for action.”128 Figure 74 Geotextile fabrics anchor steep The Metsavennad (Forest Brothers) began their slopes on the grounds.

126 Smith 2002: 29 127 Noormets 1999: 188 128 Noormets 1999: 190 40

guerrilla war in the summer of 1941.129 They succeeded in liberating Tartu and organized attacks on district offices and communications.

Population Loss

During the Soviet occupation of 1940-1941, 8000 Estonians were arrested, 10,000 deported, 34,000 mobilized into the Soviet Army, 25,000 evacuated to the USSR, 1,100 went missing, and 500 fled abroad. Soviet occupation ended cultural autonomy in Estonia, and 400 Jews were deported to prison camps in 1941.130 The irreversible population loss from the first Soviet occupation totaled 44,400131 (see Figures 123- 126).

Nazi German Occupation: 1941-1944

On 22 June 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out. The German army “had expected a quick summer victory, [but] became bogged down and overextended in the winter.”132 Retreating Soviet and German armies destroyed or ‘evacuated’ industrial equipment,133 leaving behind them a Figures 75a-b The Baron’s quirky collection of of destruction. World War II “destroyed the Kalevipoeg and other statues normal development of Tallinn as well as that of recalls the grotesque statuary of entire Estonia.”134 the Italian Baroque.

Half of Tallinn and a tenth of Old Town were destroyed during World War II.135 Furthermore, Soviet hit squads were given a free hand in suppressing Estonian ‘bandit battalions,’ and were authorized to shoot ‘bandits’ on sight without trial or conviction.136 From 1940-1941, Soviet troops caused the death of 4% of the Estonian population. Nevertheless, the Metsavennad were able to liberate most of Southern Estonia before German troops arrived.137

Isolated from the West, Estonia relied on the Germans as the only military force that could realistically oppose the Soviet Union (see Figure

129 Noormets 1999: 189 130 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Estonia 131 Rahi-Tamm 2005: 38 132 Hill & Gaddy 2003: 27 133 Mertelsmann 2003: 153 134 Pullat 1998: 155 135 Pullat 1998: 8 136 Noormets 1999: 191 137 Laar 1999: 210 41 1920s photo, Viires 2004: 137 127). Furthermore, Germans claimed the destiny of Estonia would depend on their contribution to the war effort. Altogether, 33,000 men from northern Estonia joined the German army, and 10,000 died in German service. Some volunteered, hoping to help prevent another wave of Red Terror; most were drafted. Estonians hoped to maintain independence, pending the Figure 76 expected restoration of sovereignty at the end A 1920s photograph along Big of the war. Pärnu Road capture the relaxed summer resort of Nõmme. The wooden houses burned and were replaced with apartment blocks in Estonia in the 1960s.

Nazi Germany occupied Estonia from 1941- 1944. Estonians were refused their demands for restored independence, and continued destruc- tion and devastation followed. The irreversible population loss during German occupation was 102,740: 81,900 fled the country (including 7,900 ethnic Swedes), 8,800 were executed, 1240 died in labor or prison camps and 800 in Soviet air raids.138 More than1000 Estonian Jews fell victim to the Holocaust, especially at the concentration camps of -Liiva, Klooga, and Vaivara (see Figures 128a-d). About 20,000 foreign Jews entered the gates of the camp at Vaivara. Thousands of foreign Jews were killed at Kalevi-Liiva, and 2000 died at Klooga (a sub- camp of Vaivara). Fewer than a dozen Jews survived ; around 3000 escaped to Soviet Russia.139

By the end of 1941, the and Home Guard Authority had taken 20,989 Red Army soldiers and 5,646 Soviet partisans prisoner.140 Some prisoners of war were allowed to work on Estonian farms, where they were treated more humanely than by the Germans. In a paradox typical of Soviet logic, many of the Red Army prisoners who survived German camps were later incarcerated in Soviet ones, for letting themselves be taken prisoner by the enemy. Estonians who had harbored Russian prisoners of war on their farms were later arrested for exploiting prisoner labor.141

138 Rahi-Tamm 2005: 38 139 The Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity 140 Noormets 1999: 206 141 Kõll 2003 42

Aegna Island Bombing in Tallinn

Because of the German occupation, the Soviet army bombed Tallinn on the of March 9, 1944. Soviet bombers destroyed 10% of the buildings in Old Town, killed 634 people, and Pirita wounded another 659. As a result of bombing, Põhja Tallinn 20,000 Tallinners lost their homes. This was Center Lasnamäe Haabersti *City one of the most visible traces of Soviet impact on Kristiine 142 Mustamäe the old city (see Figures 129-135).

Nõmme Harju County German forces withdrew from Estonia after the Aster Plan was approved by Hitler’s central Figure 77 command on 16 . In all, The location of industry and the rail-yard (*) in Põhja-Tallinn date 70,000 Estonian civilians fled the country under back to the Tsarist era. German military escort, and another 6500 were killed by the German army. Hallas-Murula 2005: 84

Population Loss

On the front line, Estonian troops were sacrificed to cover the German retreat. More than 60,000 Estonians fled the country, mostly to Sweden and Germany (see Figures 136--138). In Tallinn, independent Estonian government was reestablished for three days “before the invading Red Army drowned all endeavors for freedom in blood.”143 Altogether, Estonia lost 25% of its Figure 78 144 Kopli has been an industrial population from 1939-1945 (see Figure 139). neighborhood since the 1910s. This loss of population left irrevocable marks on Tallinn, and the shadowy history of WWII can be still felt today in many parts of the city. Linna Arhiiv Later Soviet Occupation: 1945-1991

The Baltic Sea became no longer a simple geographical divide with the Nordic states of Finland and Sweden; it was what constituted the iron curtain in .

- Political scientist Vello Pettai145

During the retreat from the Soviet army, Nazi German intelligence left behind files on the Figure 79 leaders of the Estonian resistance movement, Disciplined expansion was complete with names and addresses. The people planned for one factory housing slum in 1904.

142 http://www.tourism.tallinn.ee 143 Laar 1999: 211 144 Rahi-Tamm 2005 145 Pettai 2003: 3 43

Growth of Industry in Tallinn

35000

1917 30000

1939 25000

20000 1914

1913 15000

Number of Factory Workers 1901 10000 1900 1918-1920: War 5000 1897 1879 1850 1871 0 1845 1855 1865 1875 1885 1895 1905 1915 1925 1935 Year Figure 80 The number of factory workers in Tallinn grew rapidly in the late 1880s, and again from 1913-1917. Hallas-Murula 2005: 78

Figure 81 The city council commissioned this 1910 plan/map of Tallinn. 44 Hallas-Murula 2005: 64 on these lists were systematically arrested and interrogated once the Soviets assumed power (see Figure 140). Until the 1950s, the ‘Vyshinskii doctrine’ placed the burden of proof on arrestees, who were presumed guilty until proven innocent.146

Figure 82 In 1912, the city announced a design competition for a new Soviet Repression town hall, to be located near the Russian Market (compare to Figures 54, 101-102). This Altogether, 30,000 Estonians were arrested is one of the 15 entries that the city received. by the Soviet security apparatus, which used methods of interrogation that were quite persuasive. One in three arrestees did not survive the experience. According to Russian author and historian :

Interrogators were allowed to use violence and torture on an unlimited basis, at their own discretion, and in accordance with the demands

Hallas-Murula 2005: 77 of their work quotas and the amount of time they were given. The types of torture used were not regulated and every kind of ingenuity was permitted, no matter what.147

At their headquarters at 1 Pagari Street in Tallinn (see Figures 141a-b), the KGB blocked the basement windows with concrete to prevent prisoners’ screams from reaching the street. When the KGB Headquarters was converted to an Estonian police station, the Minister of the Interior Lagle Parek reportedly arranged for an exorcism. Parek, a former religious dissident who had suffered in the Soviet gulag system, felt it would otherwise be impossible for anyone to work in the building peacefully.148

Bruns 1998: 51 The Germans also left behind entire arsenals, which the Metsavennad used to fight Soviets (see Figure 142). As a result, the activity of the Estonian resistance movement peaked in 1945- 1949. The total number of Estonians involved with the Metsavennad approached 30,000- 40,000. The Red Army was brutal in attempting to disassemble the guerrilla movement. For instance, in a small village near Pärnu, Soviets hanged the family of a known Forest Brother and, Figures 83a-c as a warning, forbade anyone from taking the The initial 1923 proposal for bodies down. One witness remembered how Politseiaed extended the existing street grid network. fragile the bodies of three children seemed, and

146 Noor 2005: 81 147 Solzhenitsyn 1973: 99 148 Personal communication, Ulvi and Rein Ratas to Ain Haas 45

how their tongues turned black.149 Eesti Kaardikeskus 2005: 62-63

By 1947, 8,478 members of the resistance movement had been killed or imprisoned. About 3,000 were legalized or neutralized each year until 1950.150 The last known Forest Brother was killed resisting the KGB in 1978. As Forest Brother Alfred Käärmann explained:

And what was this drive that forced us, the last Forest Brothers, to stay in hiding? I’ll tell you. knew that as long as we were still breathing, holding a gun and feeling Estonia’s soil beneath our feet, everything was all right. We knew that it was much worse for our captured comrades. We knew that there was a one-way ticket to Siberia booked for us. We knew that a bullet from our own gun would save us from enemy Figure 84 torture.151 The neighborhood surrounding Politseiaed seems to preserve a portion of its 1923 plan, for The stubbornness with which the Metsavennad instance in its park path layout. clung to their resistance movement manifested also at a civilian scale, in the careful protection of Estonian cultural traditions and symbols throughout Soviet occupation. The KGB’s brutal treatment of the resistance movement did little to win over Baltic loyalties, and rather only repelled Figure 85 the general populace further. Estonians became On October 16,1905, 90 more circumspect in expressing their dissidence, people were killed during a and found increasing grounds for distrust labor movement demonstration commemorated today by through exposure to the KGB’s mechanisms of a Soviet monument near repression. Tammsaare Park, in front of the Opera House. The KGB was known for appropriating prominent city buildings, even including churches and schools. In Tallinn, these scars on the city’s landscape are well known, but little talked about. For instance, the gun tower known as Paks Margareta (Fat Margaret, see Figures 143a-b) was used as by the KGB as a prison because of its thick walls. The KGB used the spire of Oleviste Church to send radio transmissions, and also bugged every room in the Viru Hotel. Despite new Scandinavian management, the KGB monitoring station on the 23rd floor of the Viru Hotel has been left untouched.

149 Unpublished memoirs of Elly Haas 150 Laar 1999: 217 151 Laar 1999: 231 46 Linna Arhiiv photo Linna Arhiiv Liquidation of the Kulaks

Altogether, Estonia lost 25-30% of its population in 1940-1955.152 Estonians, like their Baltic neighbors to the south, were targeted as being anti-Soviet. From 25-26 March 1949, Soviets deported another 20,000 Estonians to Siberia in the ‘liquidation of the kulaks as a class.’ Kulaks, an impediment to the “blood-soaked forced collectivisation of agriculture”,153 were peasants who had prospered under at the end of Tsarist rule. Most of the deported kulaks were women and children. A sudden, violent surge of resistance activity followed, which targeted collaborators and their families. “The nation’s pain was at its peak; its anguish had reached its limits.”154

Cultural Tenacity

Linna Arhiiv photo Linna Arhiiv In Tallinn and other urban areas, the so-called Linnavennad (City Brothers) helped obtain forged documents and provided medical supplies for the resistance movement. This urban counterpart of the Metsavennad also considered it a duty to hoist the Estonian flag on national holidays in prominent public places. In Figures 86a-b particular, the persistent appearance of the flag This statue of Peter was on Independence Day, February 24, continued to removed from its plaza after annoy Soviet authorities. While the possession Tsarist rule ended in Estonia. alone of a blue, black and white flag was grounds for deportation, the flag continued to appear publicly during the entire Soviet occupation with fierce persistence.155 In Tallinn, the flag was often found topping Pikk Herman (Tall Herman), a feat which remains inexplicable today, considering the steepness of the tower’s walls (see Figure 144).

During the Soviet occupation, Estonia and the other Baltic republics clung to their cultural symbols tenaciously. Finnish TV was widely pirated in northern Estonia,156 so the Estonian capital was never completely isolated from Western (particularly Scandinavian) fashions and trends. Finns from Helsinki could visit Tallinn rather

152 Laar 2002: 37 153 Freeland 2005: 65 154 Laar 1999: 230 155 Laar 1999: 221 156 http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/tallinn-making-it- new/?page=3 47 Hallas-Murula 2005: 183 easily. From Radio Free Europe broadcasts and relatives in the West, the population knew that the majority of Western countries never recognized the Soviet Union’s claim to Estonia, and also that Estonian traditions thrived in exile communities. Song festivals became enormously popular, as expressions of national pride that did not directly challenge Soviet authority. As a form of protest, many locals learned only passable Russian and tried to avoid settings where Russian would be required as the primary language. Despite centuries of occupation, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian cultures persisted because of

strong national identities, high literacy rates, Figure 87 the preservation of languages and consistent Saarinen’s seal for the 1913 ‘habitat.’ According to historian and former competition anticipated Estonia’s national crest. Estonian Prime Minister , across the rest of the USSR:

the homogeneity of state symbols, political institutions, , physical structures, household goods, forms of entertainment, and language…. engendered a sense of shared experience and of belonging to a common, Figure 88 unified Soviet state.157 The base map for the Greater Tallinn design competition must have been similar to this 1913 157 Hill & Gaddy 2003: 110 map of Tallinn. Linna Arhiiv 48 Hallas-Murula 2005: 37 In the Baltic countries, however, distinctively national characteristics helped Estonia and its neighbors preserve local culture and later reassert their sovereignty: “Culture does not determine what happens, but opens doors and sets limits.”158 Stalin emphasized what he called the ‘history of friendship and cooperation’ between Russia and Estonia;159 while, locally, the rift between ethnic groups only increased.

Model Republics

After Stalin’s death in 1953, Soviet repression eased somewhat. Most of the deported kulaks returned to Estonia, and the number of political arrests from 1953-1989 was reduced to 500.160 In 1988, the first Jewish Cultural Society in the Soviet Union was established in Tallinn.161

Figure 89 Because of their superior economic performance Saarinen’s 1915 plan for in the Soviet context, Estonia, Latvia and Mukkiniemi-Haaga shares the 162 Tallinn plan’s radial intersections Lithuania were deemed “model republics,” and curving roads. and as such were allowed special economic privileges. Estonia became a testing ground for economic policy, and free market elements were included in its planned economy.163 Russians Hallas-Murula 2005: 38 dubbed the Baltic ‘The Soviet West’ and ‘Our Abroad.’ In Tallinn, this special treatment led to few differences from other Soviet cities, however. Soviets built huge blocks of housing, districized heating, prioritized industry and military interests over environmental and cultural concerns, and systematically imposed a pro-Soviet agenda on public space (see Figure 145). Soviet planners also nationalized Tallinn’s infrastructure of highways, , and airports.

Figure 90 Saarinen carried curves to The City in the Green extremes in his 1912 plan for Canberra. Soviet planners emphasized urbanization in a way that the tsars had not, and the early USSR launched “a virtual war of the city against the countryside.”164 From Moscow, a uniform housing model was imposed on cities across the USSR. Many of Estonia’s Soviet housing

158 Clemens 2003: 27 159 Occupation Museum video 160 Rahi-Tamm 2005: 39 161 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Estonia 162 Mertelsmann 2003: 13 163 Laar 2002: 45 164 Hill and Gaddy 2003: 68 49 Hallas-Murula 2005: 161

Figure 91 The illustrations for Saarinen’s 1913 plan are housed in Tallinn’s Museum of Estonian Architecture. Saarinen’s first illustration shows Tallinn’s Expansion Plan.

Tallinn's Population, 1372-2004 Figure 92 Saarinen’s prediction for 500000 Tallinn’s growth (500,000 in

450000 2000) closely resembles actual population patterns, with the 400000 exception of population losses from war. 350000

300000

250000 Population 200000

150000

100000

50000

0 1350 1450 1550 1650 1750 1850 1950 Year 50 Hallas-Murula 2005: 72 developments were influenced by Le Corbusier’s idea of ‘the city in the green.’ His notions were implemented swiftly in countries like England and Sweden, filtering through the Iron Curtain somewhat later. Hill and Gaddy (2003) describe Soviet-era high-rise developments as:

artificial, formalized, functional, and ultimately Figure 93 utilitarian…. Heating, electricity, and water Wooden rowhouses were common in Tallinn in 1900, but supplies were all generated or processed to Saarinen treated some wooden serve entire districts or blocks of buildings. slums as uninhabited areas. Likewise, food and clothing stores, public services, and amenities (, schools, cinemas, sport facilities, even parks and other green space) were all assigned proportionately to new city districts to accompany large blocks of housing. If you saw one Soviet city, you had seen them all.165

In the allocation of new housing, migrants from throughout the Soviet Union enjoyed preferential treatment under centralized rule. Migration to Estonia was officially supported: (1) to replace the industrial labor force lost by deportation, death and emigration, and (2) as a means to dilute Estonian cultural identity and resistance. Even in the 1960s, for instance, it was a requirement of employment that Estonians speak Russian in the presence of any non-Estonian speaker; “The Figure 94 system was designed to create a hodgepodge of This house on Laulupeo Street 166 is typical of the rowhouses built peoples.” between 1911-1913 in the rush to make a profit. Construction mostly surrounded Politseiaed, along Kreutzwaldi, , and Attempted Sovietization Laulupeo Streets. Houses along Süda Street were also built at this time. Immigrants from the USSR streamed into the Baltic republics in “an unprecedented influx”,167 finding jobs in industry, administration and the military. Soviet-era immigrants assumed social Hallas-Murula 2005: 169 positions of power by replacing the Baltic ‘elite’ and others who had escaped to the West or been deported to Siberia. Net immigration into Estonia from 1945-1950 alone totaled 240,000.168 Russian-speaking immigrants served as a kind of ‘civilian garrison,’169 for the most part not bothering to learn the native language of their host country. Feeling themselves part of a great Figure 95 nation, most immigrants “just did not give a Saarinen’s fifth plan drawing for damn” about learning even the simplest phrases Tallinn was a Traffic Plan. His axial treatment of Lasnamäe Square can be seen at right.

165 Hill and Gaddy 2003: 108 166 Occupation Museum video, viewed 15 June 2006 167 Pettai 2003: 3 168 Laar 2002: 37 169 Laar 2002: 37 51

in Estonian.170 Because of the emphasis on Bruns 1998:141 Russian in schools, 80-90% of the Estonian population was conversant in Russian by the late 1980s. By that time, only 12% of the non- Estonian population was fluent in Estonian.171

By 1965, over 1 million Russians had immigrated to the Baltic republics (see Figure 146). There Figures 96a-b were 577,000 Russian-speakers in Estonia in Parts of Tallinn’s center city 1989.172 By means of comparison, the Nazi resemble the dense, 4- to 6- storied buildings that Saarinen General Plan Ost had called for 520,000 German favored. colonists to settle the entire Baltic.173 According to a Soviet historian: Tomberg 1990 Whether or not the Kremlin intended to drown the Balts in a sea of non-Balts, the outcome was clear. By the late 1980s, nearly half of Latvia’s population was non-Latvian; 38 percent of Estonia’s; and nearly 20 percent of Lithuania’s.… the Baltic peoples were inexorably advancing toward their ‘annihilation.’174

The Irrationality of Soviet Planning

Whole suburbs of state-subsidized, concrete- block apartments were built quickly and cheaply to house immigrants, while ethnic Estonians Hallas-Murula 2005: 187 found it increasingly difficult to secure adequate accommodations. Immigrants from the USSR were, quite literally, “given keys to new housing at the railway station”175 -- after all, communism was the ‘vanguard of the toiling masses.’ Discrimination in the distribution of housing helped Soviets keep the Estonian birthrate low.176 Bombing in World War II had created a housing shortage in Tallinn, which remained unchanged for native Estonians even after the accelerated construction of housing in the 1970s and 1980s. While Soviets rebuilt residential neighborhoods, the focus remained on accommodating new industrial workers: i.e., Soviet ones.

The isolation and anonymity of the housing developments built for Soviet colonists recall the problems of post-WWII housing in the US. The separateness of these developments caused

Figure 97 170 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and Buildings surrounding Saarinen’s International Relations proposal for Central Railway 171 Smith 2002: xxiii Square were styled after Paris. 172 Sarv & Varju 2005: 21 173 Laar 2002: 37 174 Mertelsmann 2003: 13 175 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 176 Laar 2002: 38 52 Hallas-Murula 2005: 187 problems of lack of integration that persist today.177 The issue is not access to employment, as in US project neighborhoods; unemployed residents would happily commute across the city for a job. Instead, the lack of social integration is a direct inheritance of the USSR. Soviet housing blocks were “designed to facilitate their residents’ service to the state, not to foster social connections.”178 Figure 98 Saarinen designed the Estonian Opera and Theater. Surrounded by unused ‘green space’ and built in epic proportions with inferior construction Linna Arhiiv photo Linna Arhiiv materials, today these housing blocks are for the most part crumbling wrecks. Soviet-era housing construction can often be distinguished from modernist construction of the 1920s-1940s by a taller individual story height,179 typical of the central planning urge to make everything as big as possible. The “irrationality of central planning”180 Figure 99 left a huge mark on Tallinn in the form of the Opera Square was quite busy Mustamäe and Lasnamäe districts (see Figures when it was first built in the 147-150). According to an Estonian architect, 1920s.

A political aspect accompanied the migration of the working class in the former socialist countries, becoming a powerful means for Russification within the boundaries of the Soviet Union – the mixing of the population in a centralised manner. Lasnamäe is a clear example of this. The tongue of 60% of its population is not Estonian.181

Massive housing blocks were characteristic of a Figures 100a-b command (vs. market) economy, and provided Today, the Square blends into the very little space for retail and other services. surrounding cityscape. The lack of services reflected the Marxist-Leninist view that service is less economically important than production.182 This model of development contrasts with Sweden’s more successful satellite housing communities of the 1960s, each of which was required to provide a broader swath of basic services: including access by tram to the center city, some places of employment, shops, groceries, schools, and day care. Lasnamäe only sports a few stores and schools, and one tram connection to the central city.

177 Levy 2000: 319 178 Hill and Gaddy 2003: 108 179 Personal communication, Urve Ratas 180 Hill and Gaddy 2003: 2 181 Tõnu Laigu, www.ehituskunst.ee 182 Levy 2000: 319 53 Hallas-Murula 2005: 12 Environmental Damage from Soviet Activity

Like housing, Soviet industrial projects were subject to what Gorbachev’s economic advisor termed “gigantomania.”183 The plume of industrial waste from industrial plants at , for instance, reached Finland.184 By the 1980s, 90% of Estonian industry was under the administration of all-Union ministries in Moscow. Delocalized administrations prioritized military and industry needs over local landscape considerations.

Pollution was particularly high in Soviet military encampments,185 which in Tallinn covered 863 hectares.186 The dumping of airplane and rocket fuel in military areas contaminated Estonia’s groundwater. Near -Joa, Soviets poured 10- 15 tonnes (11-16.5 US tons) of samine, a liquid

fuel used in ballistic missiles, directly onto the Viires 2004 ground; halting its spread through groundwater cost 4.6 million EEK ($372,000).187 Leaking oil, silage, and sewer storages polluted groundwater in upper , as did dumping, ash and spoil heaps.188 The estimated cost to decontaminate Estonia’s former Soviet military areas alone is 60-65 billion Euros ($76-83 billion). Figures 101a-b Aerial photos show Russian The Soviet military also set up roadside Market in 1920 and around checkpoints, which remain today as a visible 1930. reminder of how people were tied to cities as Tallinna 2005: iv, Ortofotoatlas 27, 28 administrative centers. For the most part now boarded up and abandoned (see Figure 151), these military outposts were placed along major routes to check whether travelers had the proper papers to cross jurisdiction boundaries. One of these military checkpoints, on Pärnu Mantee, has been converted to a fast food restaurant.

Soviet planning was highly centralized and lacked civil or local participation. During Soviet occupation, the role of Tallinn’s city council was reduced along with private property ownership. The effect of centralized planning had dire long- term consequences in Estonia.

Collectivized agriculture contributed to the contamination of surface and ground water. Figure 102 The Russian Market was transformed into Viru Square by 183 Abel Aganbegyan, quoted in Hill & Gaddy 2003: 94 the construction of Viru Hotel in 184 Ratas 2005 1972. 185 Raukas 1996: 18 186 Raukas 2005: 135 187 Raukas 2005: 137 188 Raukas 1996: 70 54

Soviet official guidelines recommended using up to 180 kg per hectare of nitrogen, for instance, to boost production: a level which would have resulted in the pollution of all of Estonia’s drinkable groundwater (to a depth of 40 m), had it continued.189 Groundwater and coastal waters were further contaminated by inadequate sewage treatment: only 52% of sewage in 1982 was processed, and that without chemical treatment. The E. coli index on Pärnu’s beach was 5000 times the permissible level in 1989. In addition, Soviet operations “deformed” 200 km2 of Estonian land. Air pollution in Tallinn remains staggering: 7, 12, and 20 times the limit for sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides, respectively (as of 2005). Industrial air pollution reduced Estonia’s forest growth by up to 50%.190

Figures 103a-b Viru Square today concentrates cars and shopping. Orphaned Parks

Djomkin 1977 The Soviet indifference to local landscapes also meant that Estonia’s parks were orphaned when the Baltic Germans left Estonia. The last “really detailed” book on Tallinn’s parks, for instance, was written in the 1930s; since then, “It’s been hard to tell what parks are still green space and which ones are full of trash,” the City Landscape Architect, Tiina Tallinn, admitted. “The Soviets got rid of landscape architecture because it didn’t bring them production, and the emphasis was completely on industry.” Tiina Tallinn added, “That’s also why there are so few really qualified landscape architecture instructors in Estonia.”

Figure 104 Saarinen pictured a new town In the 1960s, Tallinn’s discredited landscape hall at the Viru Square node. architects and coalesced to form a coffee club which they called the Haljastajate Klubi (Green Bruns 1998: 196 Space Maker’s Club). Its members met once or twice a month in Tallinn cafés to share their knowledge of landscape architecture, botany, and other related fields. Their most influential member was the last landscape architecture ‘diplomat’ to the USSR, Alexander Niine. Niine’s life’s work was the Tallinn Botanic Gardens, although he continued to teach at the ENSV Teaduste Akadeemia (ESSR Academy of Sciences) until his Figure 105 death in 1975. Other well-known members of the In the early 1980s, the Viru Haljastajate Klubi included H. Tamm and Andres Hotel was unaccompanied.

189 Ratas 2005 190 Ratas 2005 55 Hallas-Murula 2005: 193 Tarand,191 who later served as Environmental Minister and Prime Minister.

While many parks were planned during the Soviet era, few were actually built; there were already more than 600 parks in Estonia.192 There were two central planning organizations Figure 106 in charge of parks: the Haljasalade Trust Saarinen proposed to channel faster traffic through the new (Green Space Consignment) and the Haljastur suburb of Lasnamäe by sinking REV (Remont, Ehitus, Valitsus -- Green Space it below ground level; Soviets Repair and Construction Administration). Both claimed this idea as their own. organizations controlled parks throughout the entire USSR. The Eesti Metsamajanduse ja Looduskaitse Ministeerium (Estonian Ministry of Forestry and the Environment) was the steward of natural preserves during this time.

In Tallinn, the emphasis on industry and new Tallinna 2005: 36 Ortofotoatlas housing meant that Soviet planners treated parks largely as marks on paper. The persistence of parks marked on Saarinen’s 1913 plan through the Soviet occupation can be explained by central planning’s essential disinterest in landscape architecture; these areas were protected from development essentially by default.

Soviet parks planners instead focused on constructing monuments celebrating Soviet occupation. The hulking, concrete Marjamägi was built in 1975 to commemorate Soviet soldiers who died in 1941. The obelisk (1960) commemorates Red Army soldiers who died in the Estonian War of Independence in 1918-1920. Unsurprisingly, the Memorial remains unpopular today and Pirita commuters blatantly ignore it (see Figures 152-153).

Soviet Marks on the City

The one Soviet contribution to Tallinn’s parks was the greenway along Pirita’s shore (see Figures 154a-c), known at the time as Rahvastesõprus Park (The Peoples’ Fellowship Park). The Figure 107 creativity behind this act of planning should not be Laagna Road cuts through Lasnamäe below grade. over-estimated; however, an emerging shoreline, occasionally buffeted by storms, probably quite simply could not be built as either industry or housing.

191 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect 192 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 56 Tallinna 2005: 27, 38 Ortofotoatlas Other Soviet marks on Tallinn include a 314-m Teletorn (TV Tower) built for the 1980 Olympic games, and the 1960 Song Festival Grounds (see Figures 155-156). One Soviet mark on Tallinn’s blue space (public space that features visual or physical access to water) is , a concrete hulk that looms over the harbor near the passenger ferry terminal. Built as an ice-skating rink and public town hall around the 1980s, the concrete structure is already in visible disrepair. Its endless steps have proven hopelessly inappropriate during Tallinn’s long winters (see Figures 157a-c). Paradoxically, the outside of the structure is protected as a historic site and cannot be removed. Linnahall is typical of central planning projects imposed on Tallinn’s landscape: huge in scale, poorly built, requiring difficult and frequent renovation, and failing to Figures 108 consider local factors. A curiously axial arrangement of worker’s housing explodes at the node Saarinen identified for Lasnamäe Square. The Singing Revolution: 1986-1991

Economic restructuring after the 1980s led to “more flexible, fragmented and entrepreneurial forms of governance.”193 During the Singing Revolution (1986-1991), the Baltic States regained independence through non-violent methods. Spontaneous youth protests pre- cipitated the movement (see Figure 158), averting the danger of violent conflict. Acts of resistance included graffiti, singing national songs, and rewriting prayers.

The Independence Movement Hallas-Murula 2005: 182-183

Public protests from August 1987 – February 1988 resulted in rapid change.194 The most significant protests occurred in 1988. On 15 April, 10,000 demonstrators gathered around a display of blue, black and white bolts of fabric covering the façade of the University Students’

Figure 109 Union Building in Tallinn. On 4 June, a group of Saarinen used axial roads to young people with flags congregated in Old Town, emphasize Lasnamäe Square. singing patriotic songs, and then marched to the song festival grounds. Along the way, about 100,000 people gathered. The march happened

193 Feldman 1999: 7 194 Laar 2002: 75 57

nightly for weeks, and the ‘Singing Revolution’ was born.195 Song became a strong symbol of

cultural resistance. The 1990 Estonian Song and Photo by A. Maasik, Dance Festival in Tallinn drew half the Estonian population. Non-violent demonstrations set a precedent for integration of the mostly Russian ethnic minority in the post-Soviet period. www.ehituskunst.ee/ en/12/4142/tonu_laigu_fruits_o

While Estonia’s nationalist movement initially only hoped for increased autonomy through “a restructuring of the Soviet Union along more democratic, federalist lines”,196 in November 1988 the Estonian parliament proclaimed that it was prepared to secede if its demands were not met. On 23 August 1989, several million people formed the Baltic Chain linking the three Baltic capital cities (see Figure 159) to draw international media attention, much to the Soviet

General Secretary Gorbachev’s chagrin. As one Figure 110 historian explained, Saarinen’s plan for Lasnamäe Square may have also influenced Väike-Õismäe, where the circular It would be harmful to the image of perestroika in road layout and central focal the West if tanks were sent to silence thousands point sticks out as incongruous of singing people. Moscow had to look for an with other Soviet housing alternative.197 developments of the period.

Estonians’ long-standing tie to their land, and sense that the Soviet occupation was temporary, helped keep the transition to independence non- violent. The sense of an interim occupation was echoed internationally in the persistence of Estonian embassies in other countries, including the US, and an exiled Estonian government that met in Scandinavia. Bruns 1998 The Singing Revolution achieved independence at the cost of fewer than 50 Baltic lives, and ultimately helped undermine the USSR.198 The Soviet bloc had started to crumble in 1989, and was dissolved in December of 1991 by an agreement among the presidents of Ukraine, 199 Belarus and Russia. When Soviet police killed Figure 111 13 Lithuanian democracy demonstrators in Mustamäe was built in the in January 1991, the public outcry “cost 1960s. Gorbachev his constituency and cleared the way for Yeltsin.”200 The USSR let the Baltic States go quietly to save face, but in 1995-1996 launched a bloody struggle to keep Chechnya that cost tens of thousands of lives.

195 Laar 2002: 80 196 Pettai 2003: 3 197 Laar 2002: 80 198 Clemens 2003: 24 199 Freeland 2005: 198 200 Freeland 2005: 205 58

Reestablishment of Independence

On 21 August 1991, after 54 years and 75 days of Soviet-Nazi-Soviet occupation, Estonian independence was reestablished on the premise of legal continuity. The Supreme Council re- solved unanimously to uphold the continuity of the 1918 Republic as a matter of international law.201 This provided the legal framework for disengaging from Moscow.202 Estonia joined the United Nations on 17 September 1991, and in the summer of 1992 replaced the ruble with the kroon, pegged first to the German mark and later to the Euro.203 Two small corners of Estonia, with predominantly Russian-speakers, were ceded to Russia (see Figure 160) as sovereignty was restored. Stalin had annexed the town of Petseri/ and the territory behind the River to Russia in 1944. This seemed a small price to pay for independence, particularly compared to the Russian Federation’s violent refusal to release Chechnya.

Reverse Migration

Hallas-Murula 2005: 194 The mostly Russian districts of Narva and Sillamäe attempted to secede from Estonia in mid-1993, falsely expecting the Aliens Act to revoke the right to residency. The secessionist referenda were rejected as unconstitutional, however, and Narva and Sillamäe remain Estonian territory.204

Estonian independence caused a portion of the country’s Russian-speaking population to panic. Political leaders, agitators in charge of boosting morale and production at the Soviet factories, informed their employees that Estonian independence would be bad for Russian workers. One Ukrainian-Estonian remembers hearing, Figure 112 Saarinen proposed an obelisk ’They will massacre you. You need the protection monument to celebrate Estonia at Three Lions Square. Soviets of the Soviet Regime.’ … Soviets purposely built an obelisk at Marjamäe to terrified the Russian-speakers to try to keep commemorate their soldiers control. The whole thing was miscalculated.205 who died in Estonia’s war for independence in1918 (see Figure 152). In 1991, there were 25 million ethnic Russians living outside the borders of the Russian

201 Smith 2002: xx 202 Smith 2002: xxiv 203 Peterson 1994: 6 204 Pettai 2003: 89 205 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 59 Tallinna Säästva Arengu ja Planeerimise Amet

Federation, of which 3 million returned to Russia. 206 The wave of reverse migration peaked in 1994. Figure 113 The net emigration of non-Estonian workers Proposed green space in and military families between 1992-1994 was Saarinen’s 1913 plan (Figure 207 91) is largely preserved by the substantial, at 54,900. At the critical junction, 2000 plan. The difference the Ukrainian-Estonian recalled: in shape of the Paljassaare preserve resulted from emergent land area. Note Russians had it bad from both sides. There was particularly Kopli Poolsaare, this sense of deep, emotional panic…. Many Merimets, the Tallinn , Russians left their houses and apartments to Järvemets, and the two waves seek the protection of Mother Russia. It turned of green formed by Kadriorg and out to be a catastrophic mistake. Maarjamäe.

Recalling the fate of one Ukrainian-Estonian family that returned to Ukraine, she continued:

The father was absolutely heartbroken over the lost opportunities that his sons would’ve had here in Estonia.208

The Russian-speakers who chose to stay in Estonia seemed to be those who were less

206 Hill & Gaddy 2003: 178 207 Raukas 1996: 21 208 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 60

vulnerable to Soviet propaganda, less dependent on Soviet industry, or more connected to Estonia through private social networks. The last Soviet troops withdrew from Estonian soil in August 1994 (see Figure 161). Tallinn was restored as the capital city of a sovereign state, and as such was eager to shrug off the legacy of Soviet central planning.209

The Second Period of Independence: 1991-Present

The world was quick to recognize the restored Baltic republics. Although the rest of the world generally viewed Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as a single block, historically the three countries had “little in common except their Soviet past.”210 Figures 114a-b Throughout history, Estonia was culturally drawn When President Päts to Scandinavian culture and policy, while Latvia established the Botanic Gardens at the edge of Saarinen’s plan, and especially Lithuania were more closely linked he helped contain Pirita’s future with central Europe. Estonia tried to distance growth. itself from its neighbors in the early post-Soviet period, fearing that slower political and economic transformations in Latvia and Lithuania could slow down Estonia’s ascendancy to the EU.211 Latvia and Lithuania, for instance, allocated 4- and 6-year transition periods to the free market.

‘Shock Therapy’

In Estonia, the most rapid change occurred in 212 Figure 115 1990-1994. In the first years of independence, Three lions guard a courtyard Estonian politics were volatile and unstable. connecting to the building where Estonia declared independence in Several key officials were forced to resign after 1918. votes of no confidence. According to a political scientist,

… a number of the specific legacies from the communist era – such as the lack of a genuine civil service tradition, fragmented personnel management, and underdeveloped foreign relations skills -- … constituted the real substance of administrative incapacity during the mid 1990s.213

Figure 116 The focus of industry never shifted away from northern central Tallinn. 209 Feldman 1999: 4 210 Feldman 1994: 104 211 Pettai 2003: 6 212 Laar 2002: 17 213 Pettai 2003: 9 61 Linna Arhiiv

Figure 117 1929 map shows industry in Tallinn. Linna Arhiiv Bruns 1993: 111

Figure 118 Figure 119 1920 map of Tallinn shows 1939 plan incorporates regular, rectangular blocks, Kriistine’s property lines into the in Kristiine, containing the street grid. haphazard growth that accompanied industrialization.

220 Massive 218 and remained and 219 Poland pioneered Poland

217 216 Progress, however, was bought 215 similarly plagued urban development. to the political marginalisation of the Russian- Feldman 1999: 21-22 Smith 2002: xiv Smith 2002: xv Pettai 2003: 5 Freeland 2005: 33 Freeland 2005: 97 Freeland 2005: 82 had the most to lose from the transition to a market economy. 214 speaking settler community, the group which The ability to initiate and sustain [economic] ‘shock therapy’ can be attributed at least partly

Estonia to make the transition to a free market to $10-20 billion in capital flight capital in billion $10-20 to that had gotten them through the bread lines From 1993-1998, however, Estonia earned began to improve already in 1993, partly1993, in already improve to began the as burdened by a business culture that “tended to heaviest foreign investors are Sweden and Finland, and Sweden are investors foreign heaviest household plots and social networks. Russia, burdened by its much greater Russian-speakers that stood to lose in the shift to shift the in lose to stood that Russian-speakers 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 result of 80-90% foreign investment. Estonia’s In contrast, the economic situation in Estonia was introduced to stabilize and privatize the its title ‘the little country that could,’ as a set specialist: capitalism difficult. In 1994, Russia was subject was Russia 1994, In difficult. capitalism automatically discriminate against outsiders.” and shortages of the Soviet occupation, including occupation, Soviet the of shortages and and a more stubborn adherence to the legacy conservative Russian constituency could block a rapid economic transition, because it was state. Estonian-centered an market a erect to then and structure communist at a long-term social price, according to one geographical expanse, population of 147 million, of central planning, found the transition to economy on the economic cleared and site.” political restructuring allowed quickly. Estonians were able to cope with economic transition with the the same mechanisms economies also sought to “first to demolish the of radical measures known as ‘shock therapy’ economy. fluidity” The prevalent fear at the time was that a ‘shock therapy’ in 1990, and several post-Soviet “Very “Very high levels of uncertainty, ambiguity and 62 Tallinna Ortofotoatlas 2005: 13 industry, which is largely defunct industry, today. Kopli’s road layout betrays Kopli’s a dependence on adjacent Figures 120a-c 63

and Finland became Estonia’s largest trading partner. Significant exports in 1994 included: foodstuffs, textiles, machinery, equipment, timber, and furniture. Real estate, retail and wholesale trade rose in economic importance. 221

‘The Eastern Neighbor’

In Estonia, conflicts with ‘the eastern neighbor,’ were ongoing, most visibly in the first few years of independence. Russia accused Estonian of violating human rights by requiring Estonian language competency as a condition of citizenship. This led to international criticism and provoked the interest of organizations like the against Racism and Intolerance Figure 121 Historic wooden row houses in (ECRI), although in the end Estonia’s policies were Põhja-Tallinn were built in the judged acceptable by various teams of Western early 1900s. observers. Furthermore, in 1992, Russia stopped fuel exports to Estonia, provoking a fuel crisis that jeopardized Tallinn’s heating and as well as vital services throughout the nation. Finally, in 2001, when 14% of Estonia’s transit trade was with Russia, ‘the eastern neighbor’ banned the import of Southeast Asian goods through Estonia to protect the interests of Russian business.222

Post-Soviet Economic Development Occupation Museum exhibit)

By 1993, Estonia not only had the highest standard of living of any former Soviet Republic, but also a per capita income 40% greater than the former Soviet Union average.223 The inflation rate in 1992 was almost 1000%, but by 1995 was reduced to 29%.224 The average monthly income per household member continued to increase by 39% in 2000-2004, from 2183 EEK to 3029 EEK ($176 to $245).225 By 2005, the monthly income per household member reached 3578 EEK ($289), with the average gross monthly wage at 9259 EEK ($748).226 Wages in Tallinn are about 20% higher than in the rest 227 of Estonia. Figure 122 Propaganda proclaims “Freedom: 21 June 1940” in a sleight of hand worthy of the 221 Raukas 1996: 19 222 Jeffries 2004: 147, 173 Party in George Orwell’s 1984. 223 Laar 2002: 51 224 Raukas 1996: 19 225 Conversions based on exchange rate of $1 : 12.386 EEK 226 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005 227 Personal communication, Oksann Ovtsinnik, PR and International Relations 64 Occupation Museum photo s

Estonia joined NATO and the EU in 2004, which “significantly strengthened Estonia’s security”228 and economic development. The three Baltic countries regained a “clear and acknowledged place in the construction of Europe”.229 Estonia was the first former Soviet republic recommended for admittance to ‘fast track’ negotiations for EU membership.230

Communism left the eight countries that joined the European Union in 2004 (the Accession 8, or A8) with a significant economic gap to close, and Estonia was eager to catch up. Despite their combined population of 74 million, the A8 initially contributed only 5% to the EU’s overall GDP, and the cost of labor in the A8 was just 18% of the EU-15 average.231 Because of Estonia’s economic growth and stability, Tallinn has been a gateway for several foreign ’ development campaigns in the Baltic.232 Estonia’s economic success can be attributed partly to its small size and favorable location for trade, according to one economist-historian team:

The easier it is to exchange and the more trade there is, the greater the degree of specialization is possible and, therefore, the more productive the citizens can be. Complex exchange is virtually synonymous with a high level of economic Figures 123a-c development…. The mere fact of being located The ‘Red Terror’ left behind many mass graves; the Soviet in a dense region makes economic activity more 233 Army murdered 2400 prisoners productive. before surrendering territory to the Germans in 1941. Adaptation of New Technology

In Estonia, foreign investment and a willingness 1941 photo, http: //www.militaar.net to embrace innovative technology contributed to the atmosphere of entrepreneurship. In 1998, a Financial Times survey called Estonia “Europe’s purest free market economy” enjoying “the thrill of the laissez faire.”234 In 2006, Estonia’s GDP rocketed to $23.93 billion.235 The eagerness to bypass intermediate measures and move Figure 124 straight to the most innovative technologies has While retreating from Tallinn in 1941, Soviets destroyed military made Estonia one of the most wired countries and infrastructural assets. in the world and contributed to a boom of new

228 http://www.vm.ee/eng/nato/kat_359/1006.html 229 Pettai 2003: 1 230 Smith 2002: xi 231 http://www.fedee.com/accession1.shtml 232 Tallinn City Enterprise Board 2004: 5 233 Hill & Gaddy 2003: 11-16 234 Financial Times 1998, cited in Feldman 1999: 239 235 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia 65

IT businesses; for instance, Estonia recently received international attention for , the Internet phone service now based in Tallinn. A mobile parking system was developed locally to allow drivers to pay for parking with cellular phones.236 The first electronic local elections have been held. Many Estonians who had never held a checking account moved straight to internet banking; 98% of Estonia’s transactions are now performed electronically.237 Figure 125 Twin locomotives at the Occupation Museum symbolize alternating Soviet and German occupations from 1940-1991. Pension Plan Reform

Pensioners formed the only society sector in Estonia that was hard-hit by economic reform (see Figures 162a-d). According to the Financial Times Moscow bureau chief,

This was the generation that had made huge personal sacrifices to build the Soviet Union. Now, in its years, it was suffering the double indignity of a decline in an already modest standard of living and a loss of the spiritual compensations of living in a great power.238

A Ukrainian-Estonian elaborated,

Older people might long for the social benefits of the Soviet state, but they all understand that it is better for the younger generation now. They Figures 126a-b are not nostalgic.239 The Occupation Museum was built through a private donation from an Estonian who sought Estonia was required, by the European political asylum abroad in the Commission’s 2000 Agenda, to reform its 1940s. The uncomfortably low pension program.240 entrance and a row of suitcases represent oppression and lost population.

Land Reform

Land reform in the early 1990s was designed to restore land to its former (pre-WWII) owners or subsequent tenants. Until 1993, non-residents were allowed to rent land under 33-, 66-, or 99-year leases, but not to purchase it.241 The confusion over privatization and land restitution took several years to untangle, and in some cases resulted in bitter feuds among inheritors.242 In

236 Tallinn City Enterprise Board 2004: 5 237 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005 238 Freeland 2005: 212 239 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 240 Gelazis 2003: 50 241 Jeffries 2004: 168 242 Personal communication, Volli 66 Occupation Museum video still many, perhaps even most, cases, the rightful property owner had been long dead, deported, or exiled. With several claimants vying for the same property, the whole transformation of land ownership was befuddling. Even if the rightful owners (or their descendents) could be located, in some cases residents had made significant improvements or even added new buildings after Soviet expropriation. In cases where the return Figures 127 The Nazi German army entered of a parcel was not practical, the government Tallinn in 1941. offered an equivalent property instead. As of 2005, 47.8% of Tallinn’s territory remained “un- reformed state-owned land.”243 As one scholar commented:

There is little benefit in trying to grasp the post-socialist transformations through the old Occupation Museum video stills dualisms of private/public, market/hierarchy or capitalism/socialism because the emerging institutions and organizational arrangements blur those dichotomies.244

Only 9.1% of Tallinn is municipally owned.245 Independence and the free market have changed how planning works “completely and truly, in all areas,” according to the Head of the City Planning Office. By retaining so little of Tallinn’s territory as municipal land,246 city planning became a matter of private property. Tallinn didn’t hold back much public property during privatization, and later ran into trouble trying to reconcile multiple stakeholders in drafting the 2000 masterplan. According to the Head of the City Planning Office,

The issue of private vs. public property is a very political question, in Tallinn.247

As in the rest of Eastern Europe, 50 years of Soviet occupation initially gave “all forms of planning a bad name.”248 In the first years of independence, rapid political flux and economic concerns took precedence over long-term planning.

Figures 128a-c Nazi Germans liquidated their prison camps before retreating from Estonia in 1944. Germans also executed 7,800 Estonian civilians. 243 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005 244 Feldman 1999: 255 245 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 246 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005 247 Personal communication, Igor Volkov, Head of the City Planning Office 248 Levy 2000: 326 67 Latvian State Historical Archives Post-Soviet Sources and Influences of Power within Tallinn

Most of the dust of political and economic turmoil settled in Estonia in the first decade after independence. Growing but nebulous class distinctions contributed to the emergence of a new ruling elite, estimated as including about 1000 members.249 (In new Russia, in contrast, the economy was dominated by an oligarchy of only a handful of members.250 In addition, many émigrés returned from abroad to make contributions to the restored republic, spearheading Estonia’s ‘Return to Europe’ in academia, government and business.

Sensitivity to Corruption

Russia was less able to efface central planning’s twin economic and political legacies. Russia continues to be plagued by “a nonmarket 251 distribution of labor and capital”, and President Figures 128d Yeltsin’s 1996 re-election was transparently Due to the scale of their manipulated. While Yeltsin’s “steely lieutenants…. concentration camp operations, Nazis declared Estonia “Judenfri” thought the new Russia too fragile for Western in 1944. morals and manners”,252 sensitivity to corruption remained high in Estonia. According to an employee of the foreign relations office,

There is less corruption in Estonia than in Russia because the country is smaller; everyone knows everyone else.253

One example of zero tolerance is drunk driving by 1944 photo by K. Scheer, politicians, an offense for which public servants are not only thrown out of office, but also expelled from their party. Another Tallinn politician was expelled for letting a family member use a government apartment. The rapid-fire frequency users.tkk.fi/~andres/ m44/m44defju.htm of votes of no confidence, however, faded from the political sphere early in the post-Soviet period. Confidence and political stabilization led to the Figure 129 dominance of the Center Party, and, in Tallinn, the This German plane, a Junkers election of the youngest mayor in the European Ju 88C-6 nightfighter, was used in defense of Tallinn during the Union (Jüri Ratas, age 27). Young people were Soviet air raid. For many years, often successful in post-Soviet political and the USSR denied bombing Tallinn at all.

249 Feldman 1999 250 Freeland 2005: 103 251 Hill & Gaddy 2003: 1 252 Freeland 2005: 207 253 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 68

economic spheres, because they “had come of age late enough to be almost unscarred by the Soviet experience”254 and were generally perceived to have less potential for corruption Vladimir Gusinsky, (see sidebar).255 Estonia’s former Prime Minister new Russian Mart Laar was 32 when he took office. oligarch:255

“I cannot say that I am an absolutely honest Inter-Ethnic Politics man, an example for everyone. Nor can any The Center Party’s success was based, in part, person who survived on its platform emphasizing the need for inter- in this country before ethnic cooperation. The involvement of the 1985, or who built great things after 1985. We Russian minority in ruling Central Party politics all have things which we was a marked change from shock therapy’s would not like to tell our dependence on the marginalization of the children.” Russian vote. Stateless persons are allowed to vote in local elections; Russian names appear on the ballot in all parties (although candidates are required by law to be proficient in Estonian). As a result, ethnically based parties and protest campaigns by aggrieved minorities are fading.

In Estonia’s Parliamentary democracy, town- planning decisions remained subject to the influence of local government, district councils, and the City Council (see Figure 163). Ultimately, the Supreme Court also plays a role in upholding planning law, which is regulated by the Law of Planning and Construction. Conflicts between developers and the city’s masterplan are mediated http://amd.store20.com/gallery by district councils, in which neighborhood residents play an increasingly important role. Since 2004, the goals of the European Union have also permeated Estonia’s public planning policy.

EU Membership Figure 130 When Soviets bombed Tallinn While Estonia was somewhat hesitant to join the from around 2 to 4 AM on the morning March 10th, they were EU, popular referendum narrowly decided that careful to spare all centers of the security of membership in a larger population industry. The weigh-house in (of 350 million256) outweighed the cost of any Town Hall Square burned in the night. reductions in autonomy. Furthermore, Estonia will be entitled to the support of EU structural funds until its GDP reaches 75% of the EU-25 average.257 A condition of EU support is policy

254 Freeland 2005: 236 255 Quoted in Freeland 2005: 140 256 Sandercock: 144 257 Statistikaamet 2004: 63 69

integration, which has potentially significant implications for Tallinn town planning. Accession requires compliance with EU standards, and therefore increased spending on “infrastructure and environmental quality.”258

Specifically, the EU’s European Commission considers sustainable development “a key dimension of solidarity, which is one of the core Groups in Europe 259 values of European integration.” There are a promoting sustainable number of groups in Europe that actively promote development: sustainable development (see sidebar).260 In its Strategy for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Cities and European Commission emphasized four policy Towns Campaign, areas: “climate change, transport, public health, International Council and natural resources.”261 Citing the need to for Local Environmental address the increase in transport associated Initiatives (ICLEI), Organization for with GDP growth, the Commission stated that: Economic Cooperation and Development A sustainable transport policy should tackle (OECD), rising volumes of traffic and levels of congestion, , noise and pollution and encourage the use The Council of European of environment-friendly modes of transport Municipalities and as well as the full internalisation of social and Regions (CEMR), 262 environmental costs. The United Towns Organization (UTO), and Emphasizing the difference between ‘user pays’ the Commission de Villes and ‘polluter pays,’ the EC coined a catchphrase for internalizing costs: ‘Getting prices right’263 (see sidebar). The EC emphasized structuring town planning through the availability and connectivity European Commission: of public transport. “‘Getting prices right’ so that they better reflect true costs to society of Post-Soviet Form and Meaning of the different activities would Physical City give everybody the right incentive to integrate the effects their behaviour has on others into their Contrary to EC goals, new construction in Tallinn’s everyday decisions about satellite suburbs, including Pirita and Nõmme, which goods and services has been drastic in recent years (see Figure 164). to make or buy. It is Protected natural areas at the city’s borders therefore one of the most have prevented much lateral expansion,264 but important tools available to development has been rapid within the city limits. policy makers.”263 Neighborhood mini-malls, each featuring a super- sized grocery, a smattering of accompanying

258 Kennen & Meade 2003: 5 259 Göke Frerichs, President of the Economic and Social Committee, quoted by European Commission 2002: 99 260 Beatley 2000 261 European Commission 2002: 12 262 European Commission 2002: 13 263 European Commission 2002: 88 264 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 70 1920s photo, Linna Arhiiv businesses and an expansive parking lot, have proved successful. The proliferation of car- driven commerce raises the proportion of ‘value-free landscapes’ and steals away some of the uniqueness (and boundaries) of Tallinn’s eight component districts. Parts of the road to Nõmme, for instance, look as if they could be anywhere in Scandinavia: with gleaming new Figures 131a-b shopping malls, Lexus and Toyota car dealerships, Before and after: the southern end of Harju Street in Old Town and the modern roadside generic-ness of an Ikea was hard hit by the March 1944 parking lot (minus the tram stop). bombing. New construction in Tallinn very much emphasizes glass, even in the most unnecessary places, for instance, as a veneer over an older, restored building (see Figure 165). Having had LeCorbu stuffed down their throats once, Estonians seem

http://amd.store20.com/gallery to be craving high-rises without concrete. Eager to emulate Scandinavian aesthetics, Tallinners now favor modern architecture over Soviet monumentalism, which is not surprising since Scandinavian investment drives much of new construction. The blue-green sparkle of the new cluster of skyscrapers adjacent to Old Town (see Figures 166a-b) forms a sharp contrast to the stark concrete of the Soviet heyday. The rooflines of smaller buildings also present a before-after dichotomy, featuring either traditional steep geometry or prairie style flatness, but seldom anything in between (see Figure 167).

1944 photo, Linna Arhiiv Rapid Growth

Under the assumption that the downtown area would house an increasing amount of office and retail space (up to 1.5 square meters per person), Tallinn’s 2000 town plan specifically directed new residential growth to Pirita, Lasnamäe and Haabersti. While some redevelopment has happened in Tallinn’s downtown, that epicenter of Estonian economic action (see Figure 168), the majority of new construction occurs in satellite suburbs. Pirita is a rapidly sprawling mass of single-family homes; the other areas targeted for Figures 132 expansion, Lasnamäe and Haabersti, are less Scavengers combed the wreckage of Harju Street after popular. Separated from places of work, these two the 1944 bombing. bleak Soviet-era neighborhoods are dominated 71 Bruns 1993: 123 by huge high-rise housing developments (see Figures 169-170).

Lasnamäe is one relic of Soviet central planning that is overwhelming in scale, and houses almost a quarter of Tallinn’s population. While a few of the regimented high-rise apartment buildings have been renovated, for the most part buildings languish in various states of bleak disrepair. An increasing number of the apartments are now vacant: with virtually no workplaces, few schools, and the barest minimum of services and shopping, most residents try to move out. Lasnamäe houses more Russians than Estonians, Figures 133a-d but that would be hard to deduce from casual Bombing during WWII damaged much of Tallinn’s Old Town. inspection; there is very little human activity to be seen. Recently, Finns have started to purchase apartments (especially in newer buildings with a view of the sea) to serve as a second home during their visits to Tallinn. http://amd.store20.com/gallery One of Tallinn’s most difficult post-Soviet legacies has been the misallocation of housing. Tallinn has expanded, despite a stable population, because its now wealthier residents want (and can afford) single-family homes. After 50 years of cramped living, the collective desire for privacy is almost over-powering, especially when combined with easier bank loans. During the Soviet occupation, young people often shared an apartment with their parents indefinitely; now this generation is setting up households of their own en masse. A http://amd.store20.com/gallery small army of starter homes for new couples, for instance, has been constructed at the city’s edge outside Haabersti, in a pattern of development that recalls the post-WWII period in the US.

Transportation Problems

The post-Soviet economic boom has resulted in a much higher disposable income for Estonians, http://amd.store20.com/gallery and for Tallinners in particular. In the first years of independence, Estonians rushed to replace the boxy Soviet-produced cars that dominated roads in the 1980s (see Figures 171a-b) with comparatively luxuriant models, such as the top-selling Peugot, Toyota and Volkswagen.265 In 2004, 32.1% of Estonians owned a car.

265 Statistikaamet 2004: 135 72 http://amd.store20.com/gallery While in 2004 new companies own 89% of new cars in Estonia,266 the higher rate of car ownership, combined with the exodus to single- family homes in the suburbs, has increased traffic congestion. Estonian commuters are guilty of not only traveling alone in their cars, but, as one Tallinner expressed it, “Leaving only 5 minutes to get to work.”267 Thus, Tallinn faces considerable problems of urban sprawl and traffic jams -- even in the absence of population growth (see Figure

172). As one American expatriate expressed it, Occupation Museum video still Estonians are:

rushing headlong into western-style automobile dominated culture, almost as if they want to suffer LA-style gridlock as soon as possible.268

Figure 134 Bombing in March of 1944 was Swedes have coined a term for the spreading focused in the center city. and unnecessary reliance on automobiles: bilism. Tallinn’s plans to improve auto congestion are Occupation Museum video still likely to attract even more traffic to widened Figures 137a-b roads (see Figures 173a-b). Congestion is an When the German army retreated from Tallinn, many immediate sustainable development concern in Estonian civilians chose to the larger EU context, as central planning has left emigrate under military escort accession countries with higher carbon dioxide rather than face the Red Terror a second time. emissions per unit of GDP than the pre-2004 EU Member States.269

The extreme concentration of Estonia’s economic Figure 135 activity within and around Tallinn, however, Tallinn’s fires were visible from a provides Harju County with the potential to pursue distance, even the next day. improvements in public transport. Existing transit systems include tram, trolley (electric bus) and ordinary bus lines servicing many areas of the

Occupation Museum video still city (see Figure 174), but changes in commuting patterns in recent years have left important gaps in transportation coverage. New construction in Pirita, for instance, has increased commuter pressure on the single arterial road leading to the city (see Figure 68-b). Pirita is only peripherally connected to the city center and is served by city buses, but not by trams. New construction is not likely to achieve sufficient density to support

Figure 136 extended rail transport. Before retreating, the German army rendered useless any In general, Tallinn’s private development shows equipment that could benefit the Soviets. Military maneuvers like the problematic tendency to collect in strips this one have been the source of significant environmental damage in Estonia. 266 Statistikaamet 2004: 134 267 Personal communication, Karin 268 http://talesmag.com/rprweb/the_rprs/europe/estonia.shtml 269 European Commission 2002: 60 73 Occupation Museum video still along major arterial roads. What used to be summer homes just west of Tallinn’s Haabersti district have, in recent years, been converted for year-round use. Commuters brave formidable traffic and distances as far as 40 km270 in order to enjoy the perks of rural living, in a paradoxical situation that is comparable to US rural residential development.

Tallinn resembles Swedish cities in the high

proportion of apartments (usually privately Occupation Museum video still owned) to single family housing: roughly 83% and 17%, respectively.271 However, Swedish cities are more deliberate in their expansion patterns, allowing new construction only at a density that preserves green space and can support new rail transport and neighborhood businesses. Tallinn has so far lacked the self-discipline to structure its growth around extensions in public

Occupation Museum video still transportation or ‘green wedges’ of open space. Figures 137a-b When the German army Transit that connects to green space, a recurring retreated from Tallinn, many theme in European town planning, is also not Estonian civilians chose to emigrate under military escort always adequately considered in the course of rather than face the Red Terror Tallinn’s open space improvements. The new, 3- a second time. million EEK ($242,000) beach added at Katariina Kai in Põhja-Tallinn, for instance, is only marginally served by the city’s bus network (see Figure 175). Tallinn’s new boom of construction makes Figure 135 it more important than ever that city resources Tallinn’s fires were visible from a distance, even the next day. be allocated with sensitivity and discretion.

Tallinn’s 2000 Plan Occupation Museum video still

Facing these planning problems, Tallinn’s City Council approved a 2000 City Plan on 11 January 2001. The 2000 Plan was designed to meet the long-term development goals of greater Harju county. The Plan assumed little or no population growth, based on the low (and still falling) birth rate and increasingly elderly population. With population growth a non-issue, the Plan’s two main goals were: Figure 138 Estonian soldiers held the front line and covered the German to accelerate the inflow of investments retreat in 1944. to improve the living environment of children and young people,

270 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 271 www.acrr.org/ members/tallinn/ 74 Population in Estonia and Tallinn

1600000

1400000 Figure 139 Population losses from 1939- 1200000 1945 were staggering in Estonia; however, in the absence 1000000 of any census data from 1939-

800000 1959, wartime loss is difficult 1940 to chart. Soviet-era immigration Population

600000 obscured population losses in Tallinn (red line). 400000

200000

1919 0 1720 1770 1820 1870 1920 1970 Year

the quality of housing, and the appearance of the city272

It is interesting to note that the economy merits first mention and as much emphasis as all other planning considerations combined. This is symptomatic of Tallinn’s shortsighted focus on economic restructuring, which in city planning seems to comprise a kind of collective irresponsibility.

Private Development

The effects of a laissez-faire attitude on planning can be demonstrated by the story of the development project Merirahu near Haabersti. Merirahu is nestled in an enviable location, on the shore of Kopli Bay, next to two highly popular green-space areas, Õismäe and (see Figures 176-177). The houses under construction in Merirahu display the wealth and expansive windows typical of new construction in Tallinn. The neighborhood’s lollipop cul-de- sacs, however, seem out of place against the nostalgic thatch-roof architecture of the adjacent Vabaõhumuuseum (Open Air Museum, see Front Cover). Merirahu has been a source of civic contention since construction in the gated community resumed, after a 10-year delay, due to the bankruptcy of the original financier. Because the Kopli beachfront is susceptible to erosion and Merirahu blocks off public access Figure 140 to the shoreline, oubts linger, as to whether Soviet-era torture devices remain on exhibit at the KGB prison construction should have been allowed so close museum in Tartu. to the beach at all.

272 Tallinna Üldplaneering 2000: 67 75

The acclaimed role of the 2000 Plan is to shape private development. Regulations control private development, a state of affairs that the city considers to be in private property owners’ best interests.273 In several cases, because of the privatization of property, the city has been forced to purchase land in order to preserve it for parks or other public use. For instance, privatization has put the city in a bind at the Botanical Gardens, where the descendants of the parks’ founder Konstantin Päts resent the public nature of what they would like to consider their private property.274 The city has even had to compensate private property owners in order to widen roads.

The 2000 Plan was intended to be flexible, but this could be a limitation:

The Plan is not legally binding for private persons but is the basis for detailed planning… The Plan is very general in nature, reserving the possibility to react quickly and flexibly to changes in society.275

The risk remains that the 2000 Plan’s flexibility leaves the city vulnerable to reactive market forces, which push single-family housing with a single-mindedness reminiscent of post-WWII suburban development in the US. The echo from the 1950s is less surprising, perhaps, when one considers that WWII only recently ended for Estonians, with the final withdrawal of occupation forces in1994. The American love affair with cul-de-sacs grew out of a post-WWII housing shortage coupled with the pressure of a cohort eager to produce a baby boom. Essentially, the Figures 141a-b lack of immediacy of war is what separates At the former KGB headquarters in Tallinn, a plaque reads: “Here American cities from European ones. In contrast, was situated the headquarters Estonian suburbanization is unrelated to the of the Soviet occupation power’s immediate mass-production of offspring; yet the repressive organ. From here began the path of suffering for second primary goal of the 2000 Plan was to thousands of Estonians.” improve living conditions for children and young people.

273 Personal communication, Igor Volkov, Head of the City Planning Office 274 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 275 Tallinna Üldplaneering 2000: 67 76 Eesti Riigiarhiiv photo Eesti Riigiarhiiv Balancing Social Infrastructure

Secondary goals touted by the 2000 Plan were: the need to balance the distribution of social infrastructure, diversifying residential structure, lightening auto traffic, and improving public transport. The inter-relatedness of these goals to the desire to improve living conditions for children and young people can be illustrated by the problematic shortage of daycare, which is privately funded.

In Tallinn, there are 500 families on the daycare waiting list, which translates to a 3-year wait (even for the mayor’s newborn daughter). Most daycare centers are small and household-based; although, with the successful introduction of a larger-scale daycare in Pirita, that trend may Figure 142 change (see Figure 178). Even when daycare Metsavend Albert Kosenkranius was photographed in 1949. does become available, it may mean -- like much of life in Tallinn -- driving across town.

With the separate school and social networks of Estonian and Russian families, young Russian-

c. 1930 photo, Viires 2004: 27 speakers complain they “don’t get a chance to practice Estonian.”276 One way to improve living conditions for young people would be to draw Estonian and Russian networks into more overlapping circles. To some extent, the city has started to do this with the addition of skate parks and other recreational facilities (see Figure 179-180). The city’s fondness for dropping new playground features into mysterious places (see Figures 181a-c) symbolizes the city’s desire for an equitable distribution of resources. However well-meaning, the city might consider more cost- effective improvements that better address Tallinn’s multi-ethnic youth.

As part of the call to diversify residential structure, the 2000 Plan suggested that summer cottage homes in popular suburbs be replaced with more compact reconstruction. This is similar to Figures 143a-b Swedish and Finnish infill suburban development The walls of Paks Margareeta in community garden areas and low-density are 6.5 meters thick in places. residential areas. In Finland, for instance, Originally a gun tower, but used as a prison during Soviet extensive and continual redevelopment led one occupation, Paks Margareeta visitor to nickname Helsinki “the city with no now serves a . 277 Its outward appearance has not history.” much changed since 1930.

276 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 277 Personal communication, Finnish citizen Jukka Karihtala 77

Restoring Historic Neighborhoods

The Plan also called for the protection of historic wooden suburbs. The 19th century wooden suburbs west of Old Town fetch high rents, due to their central location. Restoration of some buildings in the Põhja-Tallinn district is underway, but the neighborhood remains susceptible to fire (see Figures 182a-b). There are about 145 vacant, burnt-out units interspersed with inhabited row houses here and in the Kopli district, where homeless squatters often inadvertently set off new fires.278

The wooden row houses in Kopli were built for factory workers almost 100 years ago, but are now mostly boarded up and burnt out. Factories have closed down. Some of Tallinn’s worst crime Figure 144 happens in Kopli. Broken windows, gaping The Estonian national flag flies doors, and open dumping contrast sharply with proudly atop the tower Pikk expansive ‘million-dollar views’ of Tallinn’s bay. Herman; it even materialized there on occasion during Soviet According to a city employee from the Public occupation. While built under Relations department, medieval foreign rule, Pikk Herman has come to symbolize Estonian independence. Those houses always belonged to the factories, until property restitution. The owners became the people living in them, and those people were seized by compulsion. The factories are all closed down, but these people have to stay… There are tens of thousands of people living in Kopli and the Paljassaare area, and no jobs… It’s an example of how property privatization has led to larger social problems.279

The situation is similar in other post-Soviet cities. According to post-Soviet urban researchers:

large industrial sites that were, during the socialist period, supposed to demonstrate economic strength declined in importance under the changed economic circumstances and are becoming increasingly derelict.280

Kopli, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Tallinn, occupies coveted waterfront land. The city is currently negotiating a proposal to allow new construction in the area, provided that Figure 145 Stalin has been relegated to the the developer will take on the renovation of the basement of the Occupation wooden row houses. Museum, along with a handful of other Soviet monuments. Most statues of Stalin were removed during the thaw in Soviet policy after his death in 1953. 278 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 279 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 280 Axenov, Brade & Bondarchuk in press 2006: www.ifl-leipzig. com/410.0.html 78

Ethnic Estonians, 1913-2005

100.00%

90.00%

80.00%

in Estonia

70.00%

60.00%

Figure 146 Ethnic Estonians, as % of Population in Tallinn Sovietization reduced the 50.00% percentage of Estonians in Estonia (blue line) and Tallinn (red

line). 40.00% 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Year Renovating Soviet-Era Housing

Planning for the renovation of neighborhoods is difficult. Property reform made most apartments the private property of their tenants. It is not uncommon to see completely renovated properties next to completely abandoned ones (see Figures 183a-d). Unclear property ownership can prevent restoration, as can residents who are unable or unwilling to organize. In order for a building to be renovated, owner-residents must first form a cooperative association, and then find a way to finance renovations.

Residents of the late 1960s district of Mustamäe, for instance, used a combination of private funds and bank loans to finance renovations, ambitiously hoping to transform their Soviet-era neighborhood “to the most prestigious multi-functional modern district of Tallinn.”281 Renovations (at a cost of $141,000 - $179,000 per building) included changes to plumbing, insulation, external walls, windows, and district heating system. Technical problems accompanied the organization and financing of the project. According to the Chairman of the Tallinn-Mustamäe District Council,

… small incomes and rent arrears hinder the use of credit funds which are available to private owners. Social segregation… also appears as a serious problem because the different ethnic groups cannot easily arrive at a consensus Figures 147a-b for the renovation of their common housing Lasnamäe dominates Tallinn’s buildings.282 horizon from many points in the city.

281 Tärno 1998 282 Tärno 1998 79

Even in the US, many high-rises have an expected lifespan of only 50 years. The rapid decay of Soviet structures built as late as the 1980s (e.g., Linnahall) brings into question whether demolition or refurbishment is the best choice for Soviet-era housing developments. Two design competitions for Lasnamäe have considered this question in Tallinn. A 1998 cooperation between Finnish and Estonian and ministries produced the neo-urbanist project, “Improvement of the Lasnamäe Residential District – Windows Figure 148 to the Future.” The winning entry of the 2003 Lasnamäe is typical of Soviet- European 7 international competition proposed era housing development: its 283 buildings are hopelessly out of “a daring new spatial order for all of Lasnamäe.” scale with its minor street grid. Unfortunately, these projects aren’t likely to inform municipal policy in the near future, given the city’s shortsighted tendency to rely on individual property owners to initiate change.

Protecting Cultural Assets

The 2000 Plan’s desire to improve the appearance of the city is interwoven with the city’s economic force: tourism. Tallinn’s Old Town is a bustling place where you know you ought to hang on to your wallet (see Figures 184-187). The disparity between Old Town’s tourist attractions and surrounding neighborhoods was succinctly summarized by one tourist, who asked in a back alley of the center city, “How do I get to Old Town – to the pretty part?”

The City Planning Office touts the effects of tourism as being entirely positive. Not only does tourism bring the city money, the Head of the City Planning Office Igor Volkov said, but there are an increasing number of “what we call quality tourists, those staying one night or more. It’s cultural tourism. The only real negative effect is that Old Town is completely full of tourists, making it crowded for our own people.”284

Figures 149a-b The 2000 Plan recognized the importance Lasnamäe is bleak, but Tallinners of preserving cultural and historic assets that accept its presence as matter make Tallinn such a successful tourist attraction. of fact. The city claims fewer cars are allowed in Old Town than ever before, but since more Old Town residents own cars that number is likely

283 www.ehituskunst.ee/ en/12/4142/tonu_laigu_fruits_o 284 Personal communication, Igor Volkov, Head of the City Planning Office 80 Bruns 1993: 127

Figure 150 to increase. Historic preservation is controlled 1945 plan emphasizes street grid and sport facilities. at both national and local levels (by the Muinsuskaitseamet (Historic Preservation Office) and Kultuurväärtusamet (Cultural Worth Office), respectively). District councils also enforce what buildings and structures must be preserved, and ensure that new construction does not detract from historic surroundings.

Furthermore, an archeological excavation is required for each new ground-breaking in the center city area. If excavation reveals findings of significant historic or cultural importance, construction must be stopped (see Figure 188). The city made a preemptive strike for preservation along Harju Street, prohibiting development over ruins from bombing during World War II. Construction was stopped for 10 years, during which time the presence of the ruins was explained to tourist passerby by a small, inconspicuous and rapidly rusting plaque.

The poignancy of collective memory faded, however, and Tallinners began to feel the ruins had been exposed for long enough. As plans for construction once again rushed to the fore, Figure 151 A former military checkpoint the city intervened a second time, this time by marks Tallinn’s limit west of the purchasing the property outright. The city drew Haabersti district. fire for the great expense it incurred, but then hit upon a compromise. In June 2006, the city began covering the ruins back up again to use 81

the area as a park (see Figure 189). According to a representative of the PR office,

Not building in the area is a luxury, but a new prestigious park in Old Town is something that all citizens can appreciate.285

Promoting Investment

In another move calculated to both improve the appearance of the city and promote investment, the Plan proposed to relocate industrial shipping from the central city. Although the city’s view of port and rail transport might err in considering such traffic disruptive, broadening and diversifying the tourist zone could be beneficial. Within the Figure 152 next 6-7 years, city planners hope to move a Commuters and visitors to portion of passenger ferry transport to what is Pirita’s shore largely ignore the now the industrial-shipping dock in Põhja-Tallinn. Marjamägi Memorial, which commemorates Soviet soldiers Presumably, channeling a portion of the city’s who died in wars with Estonia. tourist traffic through this area (seeFigure 190) could support new businesses in this area and help replace lost industrial jobs.

The 2000 Plan also targeted infill development of Tomberg 1990: 49 abandoned military and industrial sites, without explicitly addressing the mechanisms for financing remediation for brownfields (i.e., abandoned or under-used industrial or commercial sites that are contaminated, or perceived to be so). With the known history of contamination by Soviet military and industry, environmental concerns need to be more explicitly addressed.

Abandoned factories in Põhja-Tallinn attest to the de-emphasis of industry in Tallinn’s economy. Across Estonia there is a trend toward eliminating as many physical traces of Soviet rule as possible, as historic artifacts reflecting Communist rather than Estonian culture are not generally appreciated. The perception of contaminated land and industrial use as a Soviet after-product explains the eagerness to redevelop brownfield sites (see Figures 191a-b). City planners remain stymied by what to do with the industrial rail-yard in Haabersti, for instance, which introduces potentially dangerous quantities of chemicals and fuels close to Tallinn’s population center (see Figure 153 The Soviet military paid Figures 192-194). Marjamägi Memorial attention during the occupation.

285 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 82

Like abandoned industrial sites, demilitarized areas raise some concerns about possible contamination. Since the Soviet military mostly coastal open space areas, however, planners have worked to put these places back on the map of public space. This is in keeping with the final secondary goal of the 2000 Plan, the preservation and connection of green space.

One former military area is in Põhja-Tallinn, adjacent to several defunct industrial sites, and has been targeted for green space and for blue space. In Tallinn, parts of the demilitarized Paljassaare have proved ecologically rich and of particular interest to ornithologists (see Figure 195). The area has been designated as a

Figures 154a-c preservation area. (Tallinn’s other natural area Protecting Pirita’s shoreline is is the Pirita River habitat preservation area.) recognized as one good thing the With few open views of water available from Soviets did for Tallinn. the center of the city, the newly built public beach at Katariina Kai is a potentially important contribution to Tallinn’s park system.

Preserving Greenspace

Recently, a proposal was accepted to connect Pirita’s shoreline park with Kadriorg, Lillepipark and green space further east to create a national park within the city. Tallinn’s Lahemaa Rahvuspark would be similar in scale to Stockholm’s National Urban Park (NUP), which connects 27 km2 of greenspace through Ulriksdal- Haga-Brunnsviken-Djurgården.286 Finland has similar NUPs in Hämeenlinna/Tavastehus and Pori/Björneborg,287 and another proposed for Helsinki (Helsinkkipuisto).288

As many of the large-scale Communist collective farms have fallen out of agricultural use, the percentage of forest land-cover in Estonia has increased. Abandoned agricultural lands can result in reduced biodiversity, however, with the succession of weedy forest species, and in reduced “environmental and amenity value.”289 The Keskkonnaamet (Environment Office) is ultimately responsible for deciding what natural areas can and can’t be developed. The Keskkonnaamet brings environmental considerations into the

286 Schantz 2006: 159 287 Schantz 2006: 159 288 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect 289 European Commission 2002: 68 83

city’s masterplan, deciding when environmental assessments are necessary and identifying areas of particular ecological importance.290 The deputy mayor in charge of parks also influences which parks get renovated, and how.

In a sense, the preservation of green space has been one of the more easily implemented aspects of the 2000 masterplan. As a result of Soviet occupation, Tallinn’s pre-WWII park structure was essentially frozen in time: when property was privatized, areas that had been public in 1940 automatically became city property once more.

Emphasizing the preservation of coastal areas and parks, the 2000 Plan suggested that areas

of ‘environmental conflict’ within the city also Figure 155 needed to be duly considered. However, the Plan The Teletorn punctuates views targeted many potentially sensitive wetland areas from many places in the city, and dominates the skyline of the for development (see Figure 196). With about Botanic Gardens. one quarter of Estonia covered by wetlands and half by forest, this problem may have seemed almost unavoidable – as well as typical of the European condition. According to the European Commission,

a large percentage of all nature conservation sites in Europe can be considered at risk from new infrastructure development.291

Improving Transportation Eesti Ajaloomuuseum The City Planning Office’s primary concern at present is transportation. In order to lighten auto traffic and improve public transport, the 2000 Plan called for existing bus and streetcar networks to be augmented by new streetcar lines and bicycle routes. However, it is unclear when these improvements will be built. More bicyclists brave the scenic highway route along the coast west of Tallinn than city streets and bike paths, Figure 156 Soviet planners underestimated despite the promise of new bike like the the power of song when they one being constructed along Lõuka Street linking built the 1960 festival grounds. Mantee to the Vabaõhumuuseum. This is The song festival grounds drew a fifth of Estonia’s population to a partly because Tallinn’s bike paths often coincide pivotal nationalist demonstration with major automobile routes, leading to conflicts in 1988, and ultimately helped precipitate ‘the Singing of interest (see Figure 197). Pedestrians enjoy Revolution’ that overthrew Soviet more rights than they do in some European power. streets, with perhaps one in five Estonian

290 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect 291 European Commission 2002: 67 84

drivers remembering to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. Nevertheless, negotiating traffic, even on foot, can be problematic.

The city needs 3 million EEK ($242,000) to begin implementing planned expansions of public transit.292 The incredible rate of tourism seems like an obvious funding source for transportation infrastructure improvement, as tourists themselves would stand to benefit immediately. However, at present, money from tourism only benefits the city indirectly. Of the 3 million tourists who visit Tallinn each year, 1.4 million stayed at least one night in the city, and the average spending per tourist was 250 Euros ($319),293 mostly on hotels, bars, casinos, and restaurants.

However, there remains no city or national tax or entrance fee that is extracted from tourists directly, even though the massive amount of tourism is bound to impact the city’s historic assets over time. Improving transportation infrastructure in Tallinn would benefit both residents and tourists.294 When I asked the Head of the City Planning Office if he had considered an increased sales tax or an entrance fee to fund public transit, his response was, “That’s not a city planning problem. The Ehituseamet (Construction Office) deals with tourism.”295

Because the hub of Tallinn’s industry was sited in a convenient location for the Russian tsars, all of Tallinn’s heavy transportation, both trucks and trains, get squeezed through the isthmus of the center city (see Figures 198a-c). “It’s almost impossible to strengthen the transportation infrastructure in this area: Lake Ülemiste is in the way,” the Head of the City Planning Office pointed out. Industrial shipping can’t be moved closer to the city’s drinking water reservoir because of environmental concerns, and private property owners south of the lake are determined to block a new railroad, in a perfect example of NIMBY-ism. (NIMBY stands for Not In My Back Yard.) While Figures 157a-c that rail line is drawn on the city masterplan, in Linnahall, built near the passenger ferry terminal in the practice the city will have to purchase the land 1980s, is already in need of and the dispute will probably take years. significant renovations.

292 Personal communication, Igor Volkov, Head of the City Planning Office 293 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 294 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 295 Personal communication, Igor Volkov, Head of the City Planning Office 85 http://estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?menyy_id=99&kateg=43&alam=61&leht=1 Right-of-way corridors that have been left undeveloped, by definition, run through natural areas. The Head of the City Planning Office explained that Nõmme’s corridor cuts through:

where people want to ski. The city can’t do anything about it. It doesn’t matter where you want to build roads, there are always protests.

Figure 158 The cultural value attached to undeveloped, rural At the public demonstration on areas is significant, although sometimes not 23 August 1987, the bearers evoked until the first construction equipment of the blue, black and white flag went unpunished – much to appears on site. For instance, when a road everyone’s surprise. improvement crew began work near , a

neighbor came tumbling out of her house to stop 4 it. The old protested that construction would disturb a pre-Christian sacrificial stone that apparently other locals had forgotten about. Authorities supported the pensioner’s account, and the crew modified construction plans in order not to disturb an object of such archaeological and cultural significance.296 This account demonstrates the importance of consulting with local residents well in advance of transportation improvement projects.

The national government does not help Tallinn fund its city transportation improvements. Similarly, funds from the EU are earmarked for more transportation at the regional level: “EU funding sources need to decide whether roads end in Tallinn or whether they end in the state.”297 Money has already been privately invested in Paljassaare’s redevelopment, which investors will want back if they can’t build. According to the Head of the City Planning Office Igor Volkov:

“Transit lines will have to be expanded, and the railroad will have to be moved… it should be the responsibility of the investors, to move people. They should have to pay for the road and transit improvements that make redevelopment possible…. That’s how they do it in Finland, Germany, and Holland. Developers must compensate the city for the new buses, tramlines, parks and roads that will be required Figure 159 by the people who live there.” On the monument representing the Baltic Chain at the Teletorn, one of the figures is missing 298 Estonia is “a small country, with small problems,” a leg. Inadvertently, the but also a country with limited financial resources. monument also testifies to the economic instability of the “For the city, it can be hard to get money together,” early 1990s, when metal theft, particularly of copper and wiring, 296 Personal communication, Ain Haas was rampant. 297 Personal communication, Igor Volkov, Head of the City Planning Office 298 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 86

Volkov explained. By January 2007, the city will purchase 7 new trolley-buses and 20 ordinary

Raun 1991 : 220 buses,299 but the city needs about three times its current budget (4,500,000 EEK, $363,000) to make substantial transportation improvements. When asked which initiatives of the 2000 plan had been funded, the Head of the City Planning Office said, “There are so many to go, butat least the foundation is in place.”

Figure 160 Estonia lost several thousand Post-Soviet Public Policy and Urban km2 of territory (red) to Russia in 1991 as a result of Stalin’s Development modification of 1944 borders. Two northeastern Estonian towns, Narva and Sillamäe, attempted to secede in 1993. “A city’s masterplan is never a finished piece of paper.” -- Igor Volkov300

On 19 May 2005, a new Regional Development Strategy for the greater Tallinn area came into effect. A refinement of the 2000 city masterplan, the 2005 Strategy addresses some unresolved questions in finer detail. The Strategy included new restrictions to control the height of buildings, more detailed plans for Paljassaare Reserve and Kakumäe Port, and sought to address parking and transportation problems. “The 2005 Strategy

Ajalehe Fotoarhiiv is just a continuation, a collection of documents which make the 2000 Plan more precise.”301 New ‘community’ boundaries also break the city’s eight districts into more manageable pieces.302

Tallinn’s 2005 Strategy

The main purpose of the 2005 Strategy was to guarantee “sustainable development for each region” through 2015.303 Identified goals included keeping the population of Harju County below 41% of Estonia’s total population; keeping Northern Estonia’s contribution to the national GDP less than 70%; maintaining an employment rate304 of at least 45% in all counties; and equalizing incomes so that the lowest living Figure 161 Russian tanks departed from Tallinn in 1994. 299 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 300 Personal communication, Igor Volkov, Head of the City Planning Office 301 Personal communication, Igor Volkov, Head of the City Planning Office 302 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 303 Servinski & Kivilaid 2005: 17 304 defined as the employment of individuals ages 15-74 87

standard305 in any county is at least 61% of the highest county’s living standard.306

As indicators of social cohesion and economic growth, these goals reflect some of the European Union’s measures of sustainable development. However, Estonia’s employment rate in 2004 was 56.8%: already in excess of the 45% goal,307 yet falling far short of the European Commission’s recommended 70% by 2010 and 75% by 2020.308 Similarly, in 2004 Harju County held 38.6% of the nation’s population and contributed slightly more than half of the nation’s GDP – i.e., well under the 2015 limits.

As for social cohesion, Harju County’s average monthly income was 17% higher than the national average in 2004 (at 3558 EEK / $287). 309 Across Estonia, the wealthiest 20% of the population earned 6 times as much as the poorest 20%.310 This has implications for viability of rural life in Estonia, where the agricultural infrastructure, if typical of other accession states, “has suffered from many years of under-investment.”311 In Estonia, the poverty level was defined as a monthly income below 2161 EEK ($174) in 2004.312

Focusing on these concerns, the Regional Development Strategy offers no additional provisions for long-term environmental protection. The European Commission recom-mended that local initiatives form integrated development strategies “for urban and environmentally sensitive areas.”313 It seems that, in face of burgeoning post-Soviet economic growth, Estonia has over-emphasized economic considerations in the sustainable development goals, which would reflect a bygone attitude in the rest of Europe. According to the European Commission,

sustainable development used to be dismissed as a “luxury” that should not be bought at the expense of economic growth.314

Figures 162a-d 305 measured as average household income divided by the number of household members Pensioners have been hard-hit by 306 Servinski & Kivilaid 2005: 17 market reforms. 307 Servinski & Kivilaid 2005: 17 308 European Commission 2002: 41 309 Servinski & Kivilaid 2005: 11 310 Servinski & Kivilaid 2005: 19 311 European Commission 2002: 82 312 Servinski & Kivilaid 2005: 19 313 European Commission 2002: 38 314 European Commission 2002 Tallinn City Enterprise Board 2004: 12 www.respublica.ee/ ?id=1818 88 Tallinn is divided into eight city is divided Tallinn districts. administrative structure, urban planning is influenced by the municipal government, district councils, and the City Council. Because of Tallinn’s Because of Tallinn’s Figure 164 Figure 163 89

Public Participation

Sustainable development requires “good governance and active public participation”.315 However, Estonians during the Soviet occupation learned not to draw attention to themselves in the public arena. Many of the apartments in Tallinn date back to an era when an overheard conversation could spell arrest and deportation; consequently, apartment doors often feature padded insulation or an air space to deaden noise. During the Soviet occupation, according to the Financial Times Moscow bureau chief,

social interaction was governed by a Soviet perversion of the Golden Rule: inform on your Figure 165 neighbor because he is certain to inform on A glass veneer binds old you… The Soviet Union had been a culture of construction. uravnilovka, literally leveling out, a term for the party’s policy of making sure no individual light shone too brightly against the backdrop of the collective.316

With padded doors as an every day reminder of the dangers of sticking out in a crowd, it has taken time for public participation to redevelop in Estonia. Public participation has continued to grow, as a democratic process,317 particularly at the city district level and in the form of neighborhood associations. In neighboring Russia, the “lack of civil society” has been the “most poisonous [Soviet] inheritance.”318

Urban Redevelopment

A high rate of public ownership of land can contribute to strong city control over the development process, as in Helsinki, where one half of the land is owned by the city.319 “Helsinki has it easier because the Swedish gave the city its public land as a present,” said City Landscape Architect Tiina Tallinn.320 According to one sociologist, Among the post socialist countries, Estonia is the only one with a really close connection with the Nordic countries, and this is likely to make Figures 166a-b local planning in Estonia different from the rest Boomtown’s new downtown is under construction in glass. of Eastern Europe. As a paradoxical twist to the Scandinavian flavor, the Nordic style social

315 European Commission 2002: 54 316 Freeland 2005: 17 & 149 317 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect 318 Freeland 2005: 17 319 Levy 2000: 313-314 320 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect 90

democracy is much criticized in political and business circles at present.321

Urban redevelopment in Tallinn has so far been supported mostly by Scandinavian investment. Redevelopment is financed by a spectrum of public-private partnerships (PPPs), in which the city pays for planning and contributes a share to larger projects. The city also finances some new Figure 167 parks through public-private partnerships. Jüriöö In a post-Soviet architectural Park, for instance, was initiated by a 1,000,000 dichotomy, rooflines are either very steep or very flat. EEK ($80,736) investment by a private developer, who made a municipal gift of the land across from his new hotel on the condition that it remains a park. The site turned out to have historic significance as a battleground from the 1918-1920 Estonian War of Independence. The city allocated 10,000,000 EEK ($807,363) to develop the park accordingly, and now the site serves as a kind of counterpoint to the 1918 Soviet memorial at Marjamägi (see Figures 199- 200).322

Greenspace Expansion Figure 168 Offices and retail space spread rapidly near Tallinn’s port, Lasnamäe, for example, has a shortage of cornering the best views of the useable green space despite the trampled harbor from their windows. areas left between buildings. In fact, the only community green space of note is near , which until last year served as an informal dumping ground for old tires and other trash. The area was preserved from development by an ordinance protecting sightlines to a neighborhood lighthouse. A recent clean-up has been successful, and while Lasnamäe residents already brave the polluted waters for swimming, the area has been slated for a more extensive clean-up and redesign (see Figures 201-202). A proposal is on the table to finance the project through a public-private partnership that would

Figure 169 allow some new construction at the proposed Like Lasnamäe, which looms on Pae Park’s edges, in exchange for financing the the horizon above, Haabersti costs of green space clean-up. is another bleak testimonial to Soviet housing. In another public-private partnership, the city solved the problem of how to fund 100,000 EEK ($8,073) renovations for Linnahall through an unusual agreement. A private developer will renovate Linnahall out-of-pocket, beginning in

321 Blom 1996, cited in Feldman 1999: 238 322 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 91

January or February of 2007, in exchange for the rights to develop the shoreline in front of it, 50 years from now.323

While the city’s masterplan dictates which natural areas are not suitable for development, the city usually must purchase these lands in order to create public parks. New park construction is an open, public process; the city collects Figures 170a-b construction bids and then enforces development Some buildings in Haabersti have according to the masterplan. The city considers been renovated in keeping with four aspects when planning parks development Scandinavian aesthetics: the use of bright colors is typical of and restoration: ecological / natural value, apartments in Sweden (below). cultural value, stakeholder interests, and social factors. A fifth concern, economic viability, “really controls and combines the other aspects.” 324

Proposed development along the Pirita River corridor, for instance, caught the city’s attention due to the ecological importance of the area. The river corridor has since been designated as a nature conservation park. For the most part, though, the city’s green space focus in the post- Soviet era has been on park restoration in the last five years. Working with existing public spaces, the city is developing an interconnected park system and expanding its bicycle trail network. Two greenways are proposed through Lasnamäe to increase access to Park.

Another municipal parks project involves the former military base at Aegna Island, less than 10 minutes from the mainland at by motorboat. While Aegna Island has already been designated a national preserve, the city has recently stepped in. Aegna Island already accommodates a number of children’s summer camps, and the city is renovating a building to serve as a community center (see Figures 203- 205) to allow all of Tallinn’s schoolchildren to visit the island reserve in classroom groups.

Post-Soviet Population Change and Ethnic Relations

In 2002, the number of ethnic Estonians in Estonia remained lower than in 1939, and the life expectancy at birth remained no higher than

323 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 324 Personal communication, Tiina Tallinn, City Landscape Architect 92

in 1957.325 Population losses from WWII and Soviet immigration left Estonians in 2004 at risk for disappearing altogether if fertility did not increase, according to the Statistics Office.326

Population Replacement

Figures 171a-b In 1996, Estonia’s infant mortality rate was The Ladas, Zaporozhetses and twice that of Scandinavia, and the average life Moskvitches that dominated expectancy was still decreasing.327 The life Estonian roads before the early 1990s contrast sharply with the expectancy in Estonia hovered 10 years lower imported cars prevalent today. than the European average (see sidebar).328 While Estonia’s birth rate from 1975-1980 averaged 2.1 children per woman, the figure required for a stable population, by 2003 the birth rate fell to 1.2.329 Across the EU, falling birth rates were attributed to social and cultural change, and transitions were particularly rapid in Estonia.

Tallinn and other Estonian cities experienced the biggest change in fertility rates, leading to town planners’ assumptions of little or no population growth. Slow generational replacement may have led to “higher well-being” for individuals,330 but the decline in fertility jeopardized population replacement. According to Estonia’s Statistics Office:

The post-Soviet life The following three or four years will show expectancy was even whether the fall in fertility reflects an actual change in behavioural patterns or the effect lower in Russia than of timing, i.e., fertility aging. Whatever the in Estonia in 1994: reasons, the trends have led to formation of a demographic wave, which will peak at the end “the average male of the 2010s, bringing about problems in all life expectancy had spheres of society…. It is up to the cohorts of shrunk to 58 years, the 1970s and younger to decide how serious of a blow the past decades have been to population lower than anywhere replacement.331 else on the globe apart from sub- Saharan Africa.”263 The Gender Gap

Lower birthrates could be related to increasing involvement (especially of women) in . Employment is highly correlated

325 Laar 2002: 37 326 Statistikaamet 2004: 16-17 327 Raukas 1996: 22 328 Freeland 2005: 16 329 http://earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/country_profiles/pop_ cou_233.pdf 330 Statistikaamet 2004: 13 331 Statistikaamet 2004: 15 93

with , where less than 6% of the unemployed had higher than .332 Over 30% of Estonian 20- somethings had obtained some ‘tertiary’ education in 2001, a rate significantly exceeded only by Finland, Sweden, and Latvia.333

Women in particular are likely to find increased education to their advantage, as the wage differential decreases in occupations with a Figure 172 higher proportion of highly educated women (see Traffic comes to a standstill Figure 206). One of the human-rights breaches on Gonsiori Street during identified by the Agenda 2000 of the European rushhour. For a few blocks, cars make slower progress than Commission was an “insufficient implementation pedestrians -- each afternoon. of gender anti-discrimination laws.”334 The wage difference is most extreme for unskilled laborers, where females earn 40% less than their male counterparts.335 According to Estonia’s Statistics Figures 173a-b Office, Expanding roads, such as Tartu Mantee, to alleviate commuter congestion may have Women seem to see higher education as a the opposite of the desired possibility for securing their participation in effect, but at least tramlines the labour force and diminishing differences at will be moved to the side of the workplace and in pay that result from hidden expanded road. gender discrimination.336

Ethnic Minorities

Ethnic minorities also appear to be taking advantage of the higher educational system. Ethnic Estonians have a slightly lower education level than the national average, as Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Germans, and many minorities are more highly educated. Finns, Byelorussians and Lithuanians, however, have relatively low levels of education.337

Only 53.7% of the population of Tallinn was ethnically Estonian in 2005,338 and in 2002 about 19% of the Estonian population remained non-citizens.339 Even in 2004, 35% of the population remained first- or second-generation immigrant.340 This proportion is remarkably high, when compared to other European countries.

332 Statistikaamet 2004: 23 333 Statistikaamet 2004: 22. The increased interest in education may be a result of employers’ distrust of the newly shortened (3-year) baccalaureate programs. 334 Gelazis 2003: 65 335 Statistikaamet 2004: 23 336 Statistikaamet 2004: 23 337 Statistikaamet 2004: 23 338 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005 339 Jeffries 2004: 135 340 Statistikaamet 2004: 16 94 Tallinna Säästva Arengu ja Planeerimise Amet The large number of ethnic immigrants in Estonia, * left behind by the withdrawal of the Soviet state, has the potential to help stabilize the population’s size and tax base and compensate for Estonians’ low birth rate and aging population. The post-Soviet condition in Estonia is unusual in that the Soviet source of ‘colonists’ essentially admitted the illegality of its actions when the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was rescinded in Figure 174 1991. Immigrants in Estonia found themselves A map of Tallinn’s proposed and existing rail transportation on somewhat uncertain terms. The potential for betrays Pirita’s auto and bus violent inter-ethnic conflict was, for the most part, dependence. bypassed by Estonia’s relatively gentle transition to independence and ongoing wariness of ‘the eastern neighbor.’ Estonia’s policy towards Soviet-era settlers, however, was a major point of controversy during post-communist development. According to Estonia’s Statistics Office, this Figure 175 The former military site at illustrates the underlying tension between Katariina Kai in Põhja-Tallinn the desire for membership of Euro-Atlantic (*, above) has been recently converted to a public beach. institutions and the project of restoring a 341 Although the site offers sovereign nation-state. sweeping views of the town’s harbor and Old Town, it is conveniently accessed only by Even though Soviet-era immigrants wanted to automobile. continue the use of Russian in schools, business and government, legislative changes in the Tallinna 2005: 7, 14 Ortofotoatlas 1990s persuaded many post-WWII settlers to learn the Estonian language and take on a mixed “Slavic-Esto identity.”342 Applicants for citizenship were required to prove basic Estonian language competency. Similar policies were adopted in Latvia and Lithuania. All three Baltic countries granted automatic citizenship to pre-occupation residents and their direct descendants, but set forth more stringent requirements for naturalization.343 During its accession negotiations with the European Union, Estonia was criticized for not adopting a more accommodating policy for ethnic minorities. According to one specialist,

The biggest question mark over Estonia’s future development relates not to internal affairs but to the external situation, most notably the country’s problematic relations with Russia. Domestic policy towards the Russian-speaking settler population, for instance, rests largely on the contention that the ‘Eastern Neighbour’ poses an active threat to Estonian independence.344

341 Smith 2002: xiv 342 Clemens 2003: 24 343 http://www.hrw.org/reports/1992/WR92/HSW-03.htm 344 Smith 2002: xv 95 Tallinna 2005: 20, 31 Ortofotoatlas Citizenship Requirements

To obtain citizenship, applicants were required to pass an exam on Estonian laws and constitution, in Estonian; which only 90,000 of a possible 500,000 non-citizens did between 1992- 1997.345 Only Soviet-era immigrants who could prove they had supported Estonia’s independence movement between 1989-1991 were given automatic citizenship.346 Language competency exams and the prohibition of dual citizenship drew international attention and criticism. Language had been such a sore point during years of Soviet occupation that policy-makers remained obstinate in the language requirements for citizenship. Estonia’s Integration Foundation drew fire for “focusing primarily on the language aspect,” to the detriment of other concerns like education and employment.

The Baltic States were able to defend their citizenship requirements based on the ‘effective link principle,’ which acknowledges the need Figure 176 for some kind of link (often of birth, domicile, The gated community of or residence) between the state and would- Merirahu was not a diplomatic be citizen. The effective link principle allows use of shoreline. successor states to deny citizenship to individuals who supported the previous state politically or militarily. According to Nida Gelazis, a scholar of Eastern European studies:

This principle banished any attempts to criticise Baltic citizenship legislation on the grounds that former Soviet army, state or KGB personnel were prohibited from gaining citizenship… Given the history of Russian aggression in the Baltic States, Estonia and Latvia may be justified in demanding that ethnic Russians not only break their political ties to Russia, but also demonstrate a commitment to their adoptive countries.347

The linguistic requirement was intended to identify Russian-speakers willing to make this commitment, and to differentiate them from immigrants and military who came to Estonia as the ‘Soviet West,’ because: Figures 177a-b Houses in the Merirahu Many of the second-generation immigrants do development are typical of new not seem to be better integrated into the society construction and stubbornly of their new homeland, compared with their Scandinavian in their proportions parents.348 and materials.

345 Jeffries 2004: 133 346 Gelazis 2003: 53 347 Gelazis 2003: 55 348 Statistikaamet 2004: 16 96

In 2000, Estonia’s parliament instituted a new 2000-2007 program for integration to strengthen social harmony and promote better understanding of minority cultures.349 As of June 2005, 139,000 people remained stateless in Estonia – 10% of the population. Most of these have declined offers of citizenship from the Russian Federation, preferring the uncertainty Figure 178 of statelessness to possible expulsion to Russia. The new daycare center Naba (Navel) has been hugely Most stateless individuals found it difficult to obtain successful, and rivals in scale the free Estonian language instruction needed to a new middle-school situated pass the citizenship exam.350 According to the across the street. Council of Europe Information Office,

In Estonia, the number of stateless people who have obtained Estonian citizenship has been steadily increasing, but Estonia has not developed a consistent policy aimed at bringing the Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking communities together.351

In 2004, the Law on Citizenship was amended to make it easier for children under 15 and people with disabilities to secure citizenship.352 Russian elementary schools began to provide basic in Estonian and by high-school minority children were expected to follow classes taught exclusively in Estonian. Educational reform has mandated that, by 2008, 60% of subjects after 10th grade will be taught in Estonian at all state schools. A compulsory language exam in secondary schools now satisfies the requirements for citizenship, making it easy for Russian youth to obtain citizenship.

Figures 179a-b Through the expanded pre-accession program The skate park at Politseiaed draws hordes of teenagers PHARE (Poland and Hungary: Assistance for during long summer evenings Restructuring their Economies) and other but sits empty in the mornings. initiatives since, the EU reimbursed language course fees for older Russian-speakers seeking to learn Estonian, although these classes remain over-booked. Universities even offer language- immersion programs, in which Russian-speakers can study in their mother tongue for the first two years and then, in their third year, learn Estonian.353 Estonia’s Integration Foundation was founded to help organizations write grants for EU funding, and mediates language training.

349 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 350 www.coe.ee/eng/?op=news&NID=55 351 www.coe.ee/eng/?op=news&NID=55 352 www.coe.ee/eng/?op=news&NID=55 353 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 97

Clauses were included in the 2004 Criminal Code and Law on Employment Contracts prohibiting “incitement to hatred and discrimination” and employment discrimination based on race or ethnicity.354 Ethnic Estonians have repeatedly emphasized that migrant Russians are welcome to stay in Estonia, provided that they learn to speak Estonian. The knowledge of the official language is, after-all, a condition of higher Figure 180 A ropes challenge course employment. According to a city employee, has been added at the new recreation center within Nõmme- Russian-speakers have the same job prospects Mustamäe Landscape Reserve. as Estonians, except for language. It’s not uncommon to see someone who’s very well educated in Russian have to take a menial job... Estonian and English are really essential for a successful career. You have to know the state language.... The knowledge of language is a tribute you pay to the country that is your homeland.355

Non-citizens are permitted to participate in Figures 181a-c local elections. However, as one Estonian put it, A playground in Kopli is used less “Russians seem content to stick to their own.”356 than one in Politseiaed Park. A young Ukrainian-Estonian explained,

Some young Russians have inherited the same condescending attitude towards Estonians that their parents had. That attitude won’t be able to persist in light of economic progress. Estonia is a cozy, safe and economically stable place to live. If you ask Russian-speakers how they feel about living in Estonia, they might tell you that they their own culture. But if you ask them if they want to go back to Mother Russia, they say, ‘No, are we crazy?’ 357

The situation in post-Soviet Estonia raises the unique question, of how to assimilate a minority that was on its way to becoming a majority. Theoretically, an ethnic minority’s sense of belonging should be based on a shared political community; an evolving national identity should promote ideas of democracy, political community and citizenship.358 During the Soviet occupation, Russian-speakers had been, by and large, content with the status quo; in general, it is the ethnic minority, or ‘other,’ that resists and seeks change

354 www.coe.ee/eng/?op=news&NID=55 355 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 356 Personal communication, Estonian citizen Urve Ratas. 357 Personal communication, Oksana Ovtsinnik, PR and International Relations 358 Sandercock 2003: 100 98

in balance.359 Doubts about long-term population stability and Estonia’s Soviet history make ethnic relations a touchy subject, but Tallinn’s history as an ethnically complex merchant city suggests it will be equipped to assimilate the long-term presence of minorities. One sociologist pointed out:

Over a decade since the collapse of the Soviet Union, we should remember that there is nothing new about national minorities presenting a sensitive issue for relatively young states in Central and Eastern Europe. A cursory glance at inter-war history reminds us both that the matter is well-established and that the region has responded to it with creativity.360

Migrant Swedes and Finns set a long-standing historical precedent as proponents of Estonian independence, and some Russian-speakers supported independence and transitions in the early post-Soviet period. Figures 182a--b In the destitute neighborhood of Kopli, property privatization has left owner-residents “seized by compulsion.” The Finnish Influence

Today, the streets of Tallinn are as polyglot as they must have been when the city was part of the Hanseatic League. In Old Town, Finnish, Swedish, German, Danish and Norwegian are nearly as common as Estonian and Russian, and there is even an occasional smattering of Japanese. Young Estonians often choose not to learn Russian in high school, focusing instead on English and Finnish as more economically applicable in their everyday lives.361

The everyday influence of Finland in Tallinn is increasing steadily. Each year, more than 1.5 million Finnish tourists visit Tallinn, and 60 passenger connections, including ferry and air 362 Figure 183a travel, link Estonia to Finland each day. Finnish 363 Wooden houses along Jakobsoni tourists are uniquely “cheap shoppers,” and Street were built in the 1910, come to Tallinn to buy a wide range products and to the chagrin of city planners of the day. services. Estonians and Finns both sometimes call Tallinn a suburb of Helsinki. visits, prescription glasses, cosmetics, and alcohol are much cheaper in Estonia than in Finland. The low ferry fare from Helsinki (about 20 Euros, or

359 Sandercock 2003: 98 360 Housden 2004: 231 361 Personal communication, Karin 362 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 363 Personal communication, Oksana Ovtsinnik, PR and International Relations 99

$25) and newly relaxed regulations concerning the import of Estonian alcohol guarantee a continuing Finnish presence in the center city. The alcohol tax in Finland is high enough that many Finns choose to purchase liquor and in Estonia, where cheaper brands of beer can be had for less than a dollar a bottle. Laws concerning the public consumption of alcohol are either lax or non-existent, and many tourists can be seen wandering in parks or streets with a cooler or gin ‘long drink’ in hand. The sight of a trunk-load of alcohol on the return ferry to Helsinki has also become quite common. While Finns are prohibited from importing alcohol for resale, the concerns of border guards can easily be alleviated by an explanation involving Figures 183b-d an upcoming party or wedding. The often Renovated townhouses face abandoned property on overly relaxed and carousing behavior of Finnish Jakobsoni Street. tourists in Tallinn’s streets has led to the slightly pejorative nickname of ‘reindeer.’364

Estonian as an Official Language

While Finnish pervades Old Town, Russian and Estonian blend into one another in the rest of the city’s streets. With their closely related languages, Finns and Estonians can more or less understand one another. However, Russians and Estonians don’t even share an alphabet. The public disappearance of Cyrillic was almost immediate in the early post-Soviet period, and likely required sudden adjustments on the part of Russian minorities. Street signs, for instance, are now almost exclusively written in Estonian; the only visible bilingual exceptions seem to be made for street names that are didactic in nature (see Figure 207).

Estonian, with its murmuring vowels, is not the kind of language a person learns through casual contact, as inter-ethnic marriages attest. (One American woman, who has been married to an Estonian since 1969 and has two bilingual daughters, still can’t say, “Pass the milk.”) Publicly, as well as officially, the language is Estonian, but in practice the two polarities of language twist in and around each other. Employees are

364 Personal communication, Finnish citizen Jukka Karihtala 100

expected to have sufficient grasp of Estonian to be able to conduct everyday business in the state language; in practice, however, neighborhoods are so separated that a person who speaks only Russian can probably get by in a menial job with a minimal understanding of Estonian. It seems the particular domain of older shopkeepers to insist on using Russian for their business interactions – even in the face of persistent Estonian dialogue. Figure 184 Some older Russians remain unable (or unwilling) Tourism is a major economic enterprise in Tallinn. to speak Estonian. The effect of revised educational policies over the last 15 years has been a minority youth that’s fluent in Estonian, but still sometimes reluctant to speak it. The situation mirrors conditions during the Soviet occupation: with some elders unable to speak the official language, and some youth refusing to. As Russians joke, bitterly, about the 1993 ‘Aliens Act’:

‘We are creatures from Mars.’ Russians don’t like to be called aliens. It’s an unfortunate translation.365

One City, Two Towns

Ethnicity may not be visibly manifest, as race is in Figure 185 the US, but the Soviet policy of separate suburbs A string of casinos lures in for new immigrants has resulted in “one city, passengers on their way to and 366 from the ferry terminals. two towns.” A once preferential policy has left minorities at a disadvantage today: socially excluded and distanced from the economic opportunities and business networks prevalent in Tallinn’s city center.

Progress towards multiculturalism occurs over multiple generations. Becoming multicultural is a long-term process, and requires the implementation of a bureaucratic framework for citizenship legislation, new ways of living together, and new forms of spatial and social belonging.367

The historically bloody relationship between Estonia and Russia, however, is likely to require sensitive handling for some time. Research indicates the repressive measures of the Soviet occupation will likely carry psychological Figure 186 consequences not only for survivors, but also their A street sign on Pikk Jalg (Long children and grandchildren as well -- disappearing Leg) reminds tourists not to be 368 caught off-guard by the scenery. only in 2030-2040.

365 Personal communication, Oksana Ovtsinnik 366 Personal communication, Madis Pihlak 367 Sandercock 2003: 136 368 Noor 2005: 59 101

Fortunately, Russian-speakers who chose to remain in Estonia probably shared Estonia’s intention to ‘return to Europe,’ even if only economically. Some Soviet-era immigrants had a social or cultural tie to place, after living in Estonia for 50 years. In Estonia hopes remain high that integration could be achieved in the next 10 years. An employee of the city Public Relations Office explained, Figure 187 Not all of Old Town has been All it takes is one generation…. Estonia’s biggest ‘Disney-fied.’ While similar trump is its stability. It’s not a matter of buying buildings house restaurants affection, but Russian-speakers will realize this is and shops capitalizing on the their home. They may claim that Russia is their district’s medieval history, this heart and culture but, anymore, they understand building on Toompea awaits Estonia better than Mother Russia…. Russians renovation.

who live in Estonia are different from other Adapted from Pullat 1998: 12 Russians. The prospects for integration are not that poor.369

A corollary could be drawn between the situation in Tallinn today and in American cities in the late 1800s. A rapid turnover of power between Irish immigrants and earlier European colonists led to ethnic scuffling for a generation or two, especially in New , Boston, and Chicago. Today, the fierce ethnic Irish identity manifests most publicly as a vague affinity for St. Patrick’s Day, and in pinching miscreants who fail to respect the holiday by wearing green. Figure 188 Archaeological excavations (blue The multiculturalism of European cities has dots) have covered much of Old Town. increased with the EU’s more permeable national borders. The result has been a struggle of nations to maintain their identity, and a rise in anti-immigrant sentiments is some EU countries. The rising problem of xenophobia in some countries clashes with historic traditions of tolerance toward political refugees. In Sweden, for instance, planners admit that one shortcoming of the excellent public rail systems, such as in Göteborg, is the isolation of ethnic minorities and new immigrants in satellite towns connected to Swedish town and cultural centers

only loosely. As in other countries, lower-income Figure 189 immigrants “tend to cluster in cheap housing, Harju Street was bombed, along often on outlying suburban estates.”370 The self- with much of the city, in 1944 by Soviet bombers targeting the sufficiency of Swedish suburban developments Nazi German garrison (compare means that many new immigrant communities to Figures 131-132). After 10 interact with ethnic Swedes very little. years, the excavated ruins are being covered to create a new park.

369 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 370 European Commission 2002: 57 102

A parallel situation exists today in Tallinn as an inheritance of Soviet central planning. Separation does not facilitate understanding: some Swedes perceive a dilution of social services associated with the acceptance of political refugees, and young Russian-speakers lament the lack of opportunities to practice Estonian.

Sensitive International Relations

Few countries have embraced an ideology of multiculturalism. The best examples -- Australia, Canada, , and -- hold political philosophies that contrast distinctly with the loss Figure 190 of cultural identity implied by the US ‘melting Rail connects directly to Tallinn’s pot.’371 Estonia’s cultural ties to Scandinavia make passenger port, inviting public transportation development. tolerance and acceptance of ethnic minorities a logical matter of state policy. Indeed, Tallinn’s municipal government seems determined to Figures 191a-b respect the diaspora of ‘the eastern neighbor,’ Soviet industry and military have left an uncertain legacy perhaps because of the ongoing potential for of potential pollution in Tallinn. international conflict. Similar to the first period This site was abandoned, of independence, maintaining relationships with probably by the Soviet military, at Viimsi pier. Russia is vital. One European Studies scholar explained:

As a great power, Russia considers itself .… entitled to certain spheres of interest, among which it counts also the Baltic States. This position is completely unacceptable for the Balts – a fact that has created a deep cleavage between Russia and the Baltic States.372

According to a political scientist, because of the Russian Federation’s

heightened sensitivity to Russian exclusion from EU institutions.… the unresolved questions of inter-ethnic relations and national identity could hit the surface in ugly ways, especially when economic rough patches are encountered. 373

Even more alarming is Russia’s tendency, even up to the present (2006) of denying “the aggression against the Baltic states and the existence of occupation.”374 This post-Soviet policy is a stark contrast to Germany’s attempts to compensate victims of the Holocaust. In accordance with the continuing delicacy of relationships between Estonia and Russia, Tallinn’s

371 Sandercock 2003: 101 372 Tiilikainen 2003: 17 373 Breslauer 2003: 29 & 31 374 Tannberg & Tarvel 2006: 89 103 Tallinna 2005 Ortofotoatlas city planning needs to prioritize ways of bringing Russian and Estonian enclaves into common spheres of interaction. Fostering a sense of inter-ethnic cooperation is vital to preventing a minor ethnic scuffle from getting out of hand. According to a former employee of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union,

[Russian] policy is likely to snap at an unpredictable moment, perhaps with little Figure 192 apparent provocation.375 Planners have struggled with the location of the industrial rail-yard in Tallinn since 1913. Promoting Multiculturalism in Tallinn

The stranger, the outsider, the traveler, the trader, the refugee, the slave, yes, even the invading enemy, have had a special part in urban development at every stage. Figure 193 Industry dominates the horizon -- Lewis Mumford376 of northwestern Tallinn.

The framework of a city’s planning can reveal cultural biases acting as a form of majority rule, for instance by making implicit assumptions about what kind of spaces are appropriate for worship or recreation. Leaving ethnic mixing to housing and public spaces can be problematic; in order to promote multiculturalism, a city needs more active spaces that require and facilitate Figure 194 interaction between groups. To accelerate Near Tallinn’s center city and naturalization, potential mixing spaces might be Linnahall, abandoned industry associated with: workplaces, schools, childcare does not deter new residential development (along horizon at 377 centers, clubs, youth centers, and colleges. right). However, open space plays a vital role in securing the right of ethnic minorities to difference, and to the city. According to urban and regional planning theorist Leonie Sandercock:

The right to difference means recognizing the legitimacy and specific needs of minority or subaltern cultures. The right to the city is the right to presence, to occupy public space, and to participate as an equal in public affairs.378

375 Nikolai Sokov, quoted in Breslaer 2003: 34 376 The City in History (1961), quoted in Sandercock 2003: 109 377 Sandercock 2003: 94 378 Sandercock 2003: 103 104 Tallinna 2005 Ortofotoatlas

• * http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/_images/parks/GasWorks/Aerial.jpg

Figure 195 An aerial photo from 2005 shows the newly designated reserve of Paljassaare (•), which was formerly used as a military area. The close proximity of largely abandoned industry and recent municipal investment at Katariina Kai (*) suggest that some industrial relics could be incorporated into a larger greenspace, similar to Gasworks Park in Seattle (at left). Tallinna Säästva Arengu ja Planeerimise Amet

Figure 196 Tallinn’s 2000 plan leaves several ecologically sensitive areas vulnerable to development. Ecological zones are marked in green hatch; larger woods in green and prospective development in red stippling. 105 Tallinna Säästva Arengu ja Planeerimise Amet Ethnicity and Open Space

Open space plays an important role in promoting urban multiculturalism as well as a public arena for conflict. In Tallinn, where ethnic minorities are often non-citizens, ethnic tensions play out in public spaces. The litany of forbidden items at Kadrioru Stadium is an impressive pictorial testimonial to the latent potential for conflict Figure 197 (see Figure 208). Tallinn’s proposed bicycle path system increases access to both One source of contention between ethnic groups public parks and private green space, and includes, where th is ‘Victory Day,’ the May 9 Soviet holiday possible, views of blue space. commemorating the victory of the Soviet army However, the network of paths under construction (red) and over the Nazi Germans. The anniversary is a projected (blue / purple) fails to touchy subject for Estonians, as it coincided with separate major bicycle routes the beginning of 50 years of Soviet occupation. In from automobile ones. fact, May 9th is marked on the Estonian calendar simply as ‘Europe Day.’

In the spring of 2006, the city announced its intention to relocate the Soviet Soldier Monument from Tõnismägi, which is a memorial to Soviet soldiers who died in World War II. The monument was not removed earlier, as it remains unclear whether unknown soldiers are buried at the site.379 Russian-speakers associate the statue with Victory Day, and Estonians see it as a symbol of the Occupation: even though the caption has been changed to read “For those fallen in Word War II.” Local Russians place flowers at the monument to remember lost loved ones.380 By no accident, the Occupation Museum is located across the street from the Soviet Soldier monument.

On 9 May 2006, along with the expected EU flags, a few Russian provocateurs brought Soviet flags to the annual Victory Day celebration at the Figures 198a-c Soviet Soldier Monument. Estonians, not to be Kopli and Paljassaare remain out-done, staged a counter-demonstration with the focus of Tallinn’s shipping industry, causing shipping traffic national flags, but were blocked by police for not to bottleneck in the center city’s securing the proper permits to demonstrate. isthmus.

Soon after, the Soviet Soldier was defaced in the night with blue paint. Ethnic Russians, completely unable to understand Estonian sensitivity, launched a counter demonstration of

379 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 380 http://www.tourism.tallinn.ee 106

their own. On 27 May 2006, Russians covered the monument commemorating Estonia’s independence in front of the municipal government office with red and white carnations, the Russian national flower (see Figures 209-210). This led to an aggressively boisterous counter-counter faction of Estonians carrying national flags. The Russian group had registered for a permit at 11 am, and Estonians had a permit for the same Figure 199 place at noon; however, the police caught on Jüriöö Park was founded as a 10:1 public-private partnership, and kept the two groups apart. While tension and serves as an example of during the demonstration was thick, no outright how private seed money can violence ensued. precipitate municipal funds.

Since then, the city has been careful to provide surveillance protecting the Soviet Soldier Monument from further defacement. However, the media have played an unfortunate role in escalating the conflict, the most visible display of ethnic tension since the 1990s. As a Ukrainian- Estonian related:

Journalists are doing nothing to pacify the people… When journalists interview, they seem to pick the angriest, least well-educated person. Figure 200 In their 5 minutes of glory, these people say the The private investor’s hotel stupidest things. One drunk Russian said that if can be seen at right of the the city knocks down the statue, ‘We’ll give you monument in Jüriöö Park. another Chechnya.’ I’m not at all for censorship, but I am for common sense. 381

The antagonism between red and blue played out on a quieter but more personal level a few years ago, in Keila-Joa National Park, west of Tallinn. Keila-Joa features two suspension , where newlywed couples traditionally secure locks engraved with their names (see Figures 211a-c). As a symbol of the permanence of their wedding vows, couples then throw the key to their lock into the Keila River. This custom is a long-standing one, and some of the locks are quite old. A few years ago, however, when one couple went to revisit the park on their anniversary, they found their lock completely gone. A friend related their story:

Figure 201 Once they had gotten over the initial shock, they The future site of Pae Park was discovered that all of the locks with Estonian preserved from development names had been cut off, but none of the Russian in Lasnamäe because of an ones.382 ordinance protecting views of this lighthouse. Park improve- ments will continue into 2007. Not to be deterred, Estonian couples since 2004

381 Personal communication, Oksana Otsvinnik, PR and International Relations 382 Personal communication, Karin 107

have returned with locks in such numbers as to overwhelm the Russian ones, which nevertheless remain unmolested. Estonian marriage locks have also appeared on a less secluded bridge in the new Pirita River Corridor Park, where they will presumably be less susceptible to vandalism.

Vandalism is a recurring theme in Tallinn’s parks. Last year, for instance, 50 shrubs at Viruvärava Mägi Park were stolen out of the ground the Figure 202 According to the former Minister night after they were installed. The city can only of the Environment Rein Ratas, afford to fix up two or three parks each year, Pae Park will be left more and renovations do not always go smoothly. The naturalistic than many of Tallinn’s open spaces. city’s tendency to spend money on less steal- able flashing colored lights, water features and grandiose statuary (see Figure 212) betrays the heat of new wealth, but draws people of all ethnicities into parks nevertheless (see Figures 213a-b). Park renovations in recent years have included fountains added at Kungla Park, lights along Haabersti’s Stroomirand shore, and a new rose garden within Kadriorg. Tallinn’s city government could further integration with a few changes to its program for public open space.

Recommendations for Parks

Create small-scale places to promote interaction among ethnic groups.

Tallinn’s parks should bring people together and provide places to practice language skills, especially for young people. One way that Swedes achieve this is with enclosed, more or less naturalistic areas within housing complexes, where young people can roam and interact within a safe space. Pocket parks in Nõmme, with their established trees, invite increased neighborhood social activities. Existing popular parks like Kadriorg could be retrofitted to promote more interaction among strangers. Figure 203a-b The Tallinn Botanic Gardens currently suffers This building will become the from a lack of a sense of ‘refuge’ – with an center of operations for school programs on Aegna Island. inventory-based approach to plants, the Gardens’ scattered exhibit of bushes does not invite visitors to linger or interact (see Figures 214a-c). The mayor’s call for new benches is a step in the right 108

direction, but a more comprehensive gathering space is in order. Parts of the Kadriorg grounds could be enhanced to encourage interaction at a larger than family-based level.

Create special parks for special activities.

Since different ethnic groups already interact well Figures 204a-b in workplaces, more small plazas and parks in Aegna Island features a thick pine forest with open understory, the center city could lure office workers outside which is typical of the Estonian on their lunch breaks (see Figures 215a-c). countryside. A number of other user groups are already inter- ethnic. Creating spaces that appeal to these groups is one way to stretch social boundaries. Dog walkers are one example of such a group. The under-used dog park at Politseiaed should be a lesson in what does not work: too small of a space, too artificially treated, guarantees canine and human boredom (see Figure 216). Less formal dog parks, however, could bring neighbors together. Places that make unpopular parks (see Figures 217-218) could be an instant hit with special users or enthusiasts of particular sports.

Bring patterns from the rural landscape into the city.

Using traditional fences in urban spaces is one way to emphasize layers of culture in open space. Local traditions are more meaningful than, for instance, European coppicing (see Figures 219- 220). This approach would provide reassurance to Estonians that their traditions still matter in multi-ethnic communities. Midsummer fires for Jaanipäev are another rural landscape tradition that has been adopted in the city (see Figures 221a-b).

Offer more places to linger and interact in Tallinn’s parks.

William Whyte’s research on urban plazas suggests the easiest way to get people to stop in a public space is to provide places to sit. Food and activity can also serve as ‘triangulations.’ 109

The number of users at the Tallinn Botanic Gardens on a Sunday afternoon implies that the park has the potential to support a more formalized gathering space. Benches that are conversationally grouped (see Figures 222a-b) encourage spontaneous interactions among neighbors.

Where there are people, provide places that promote interaction.

Existing points of random contact, like bus stops and plazas, could be enhanced to invite social interaction and comment (see Figures 223-226). The overemphasis of monuments (see Figure 227) is a displacement of priorities. While new monuments have been installed near Merineitsi 383 Kuju, Viru Hotel, Snell Pond, and in Mustamäe, Figures 205a-d what the city needs to do is create larger spaces While scenic today, Aegna that transcend ethnic and historic boundaries. Island was formerly a Soviet military base --- raising again the question of environmental contamination and exposure. Help (notoriously reserved) Estonians learn to talk to strangers.

Community events like Old Town Days provide extreme situations that cannot escape comment. Spreading remarkable events like the Rat Race (see Figures 228-229) around the city could be another way to promote interaction among strangers.

Recommendations for Neighborhoods

Help communities form more active neighborhood groups.

The city could accelerate housing restoration by encouraging the formation of active neighborhood groups. Even a coat of fresh paint can make a difference to a worn-down building; bright colors help set one house off from another (see Figures 170a-b). The Lasnamäe streetscape is so monotonous that painting the bridges crossing Lagna Road and labeling them was considered a major way-finding improvement.

383 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 110

Community groups like Habitat for Humanity in the US have been quite successful in improving the quality of housing in low income communities. With more than 104,000 residents in Lasnamäe, the potential for pooling resources of labor is significant.

Introduce creative, concrete solutions to Figure 206 pursue higher revitalize Soviet-era housing. education to improve the equity of their employment. While opportunities have improved for Without innovative solutions to the problems of women since independence, Soviet-built housing, the housing vacancy rate is women’s wages still fall short by likely to broach a tipping point. While everything EU standards. cannot be fixed at once, the involvement of community members at a larger than individual property scale is crucial. According to an Atlantic Monthly article,

A national [US] study found that the ‘tipping point’ in a neighborhood occurred when just three to six percent of the structures were abandoned. Vacant lots and empty buildings are more than just symptoms of blight --- they are also causes of it. Central cities of metro areas that have aggressively expanded their borders face these Figure 207 384 The few bilingual street-signs problems too… that remain in Tallinn appear to serve an educational purpose: “J. Pärna, Estonian author.” As residents tend to relocate to Tallinn’s single- family suburbs, the city needs to consider assuming ownership of long-abandoned properties to prevent the spread of blight. Such an approach is in place in US cities like Indianapolis; Indianapolis auctions off properties in low-income neighborhoods where owners have defaulted on taxes. At ‘tax sales,’ a vacant lot can occasionally be purchased for a few hundred dollars.385 A similar program for abandoned properties in Tallinn would draw the attention of Scandinavian investors very quickly. Alternatively, the city could acquire abandoned properties systematically in order to promote a higher degree of control over city planning (as in Scandinavian cities).

Figure 208 Kadrioru Stadium pictographs forbid a small arsenal of means of expressing conflict.

384 Witold Rybczynski, “Downsizing Cities: To Make Cities Work Better, Make Them Smaller,” Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 276, #4, Oct 1995. Quoted in Hill & Gaddy 2003: 162 385 Personal communication, Shane Strodtman and Tricia Mera, Indianapolis tax sale veterans and owners of two formerly abandoned lots -- and a $12,500 house. 111

Facilitate social interaction in Soviet-era housing open space.

The city should spearhead efforts to revitalize existing open spaces in Soviet-era housing developments. Already struggling to finance renovations, individual apartment owners are not likely to take on the redesign of communal space in any significant way. The city’s district councils, or even smaller community administrations, could help neighbors work together to improve the appearance of the spaces around their homes. Allotment gardens within large housing block areas could provide the means for residents to personalize their immediate community space. Figure 209 Most immigrants housed in high-rise Soviet The Soviet Soldier statue at Tõnismägi was defaced with developments are distanced by LeCorbu’s ideal blue paint after some Russians of the ‘city in the green’ from both city and green. brought Soviet flags to the annual Victory Day celebration Promoting a greater sense of community in on 9 May 2006. these neighborhoods is the first step to creating a sense of belonging, and a sense of where to belong, for Russian-speakers in Tallinn.

Recommendations for Traffic

Work to reverse the trend of migration to the outer city.

As US cities learned the hard way after the ‘White Flight’ of the 1960s, crumbling inner city neighborhoods are more difficult to resurrect than they are to abandon. If Tallinn is exhibiting post-WWII symptoms belatedly, as a result of Soviet occupation, the center city ring of historic wooden housing is vulnerable to increasing problems. Older neighborhoods like Kopli are likely to remain undesirable without drastic Figure 210 In later May 2006 ,Russian intervention by the city to reverse urban sprawl. speakers retaliated by covering Center city living needs to be made more desirable, the monument commemorating Estonian independence with the in the long-term, than a new single-family house Russian state flower. in the suburbs. The tools the city can use to control growth will also help create new, vibrant, and ethnically mixed communities. 112

Prioritize immediate improvements in public transit.

The most important step to making the older neighborhoods more desirable to residents is to provide better public transit. The best way to encourage the autonomy, ethnic integration, and quality of life for Tallinn’s youth is to give young people ‘keys to the city’, in the form of easy, fast access between the city center and satellite districts. With the current crush of traffic at the center isthmus, the city is making a huge mistake to widen auto roads. To curb bilism and promote sustainable urban growth, the city should work instead to make public transit cheaper and Figures 211a-c faster than commuting by car.386 This means, At Keila-Joa Park, post-1994 first of all, separating tram and bus routes from marriage locks decorate the bridges crossing Keila River. regular traffic (seeFigures 230-231); otherwise, no commuter stuck in traffic will watch a tram pass and feel jealous.

This approach has been successful in Chicago. The Elevated Rail (the EL) enjoys freedom of movement around the Chicago Loop, where cars get stuck for hours. Judging from the crowdedness of city buses during rush-hour in Tallinn, many and bus lines could be switched over to trams. Buses, generally and perhaps rightfully perceived as slower and more lumbering means of transit, should be limited to areas with insufficient density to support rail. Tallinn needs to de-emphasize private automobiles to promote the well-being of its larger community.

Help tourists explore more of the city.

At present, it is difficult for casual visitors to the city to feel confident using public transit. One visiting historian from Canada, for instance, quickly gave up trying to decipher the tram route system: “It was easier to walk.” With about half of Tallinn’s tourists only visiting the city for the day, improving the legibility of public transit is crucial.

If tramlines connected Tallinn’s center to its most precious green spaces (e.g., the Botanic Gardens and the new Lahemaa Rahvuspark in Pirita), Scandinavian investors would follow.

386 Whyte: 1958 113

What Tallinn lacks today, in comparison to other Scandinavian cities, is efficient public transit.

Skip ahead to more ‘enlightened’ transit solutions.

Much like Estonians skipped straight to Internet banking, the transportation crisis provides Tallinners the opportunity to bypass the mistakes Figure 212 of bilism that have ravaged the US. The sheer A proposal to erect an oversize density of Soviet-era housing has, if nothing else, statue of Kalevipoeg in Tallinn’s harbor would mark Estonian the ability to support efficient public transportation. territory. The need to relocate industrial shipping could very also spur positive community change.

Give bike lanes more breathing room from 2004 photo by N. Hopkins traffic and parked cars.

Protecting bicyclists from smog could promote bicycle commuting. Larger, more separated bike paths could also prevent ‘dooring,’ the unfortunate result of a car door opening into the direct path of bicyclist.387 Since most places of work remain in the center city, a widened, ‘green Figures 213a-b fingers’ pattern would benefit all of Tallinn’s Politseiaed Park before the addition of fountains, which now residents. Left unplowed in the winter, the same draw the attention of young network of off-road paths could accommodate people. the city’s skiers.

Don’t count paths along major arterial roads as greenways.

Despite the attractive swaths of green in planning documents, the best greenways are those that separate users from the hustle and bustle of auto traffic. Most of Tallinn’s bike paths could be termed brownways, as they put bicyclists into regular conflict with automobiles (see Figures 232-233).

Greenways, in order to facilitate community interaction, need to be widened and connected by a second network of paths for exclusively non- motorized traffic. The existing road right-of-ways through natural areas like Reba make an obvious first point of attack. The same right-of- ways that the city laments as undevelopable for

387 Hurst 2004: 112-115 114

auto traffic make perfect bike, pedestrian, and ski connections within the city.

Let pedestrians win over cars in everyday conflicts.

Pedestrians’ natural paths could be better considered. The city provides under- and over- passes at some intersections, but many places lack safe pedestrian connections (see Figures 234-235). Underground pedestrian crosswalks such as and Vabaduse Väljak can be difficult for users with limited mobility to access (see Figures 236-237). Parks, in particular, seem often to lack safe pedestrian crossings. Pedestrians need better connections between the center city and Old Town (see Figures 238- 239). At present, for instance, one intersection at Politseiaed Park requires pedestrians to negotiate three traffic lights in order to enter the park (see Figure 240). Politseiaed Park is very popular, yet several of the intersections at its borders lack safe (or even striped) pedestrian crossings. Requiring drivers to stop for a pedestrian on a crosswalk could change the status quo overnight.

Get prices right for car-commuters.

Figures 214a-c Contrary to Saarinen’s utopian vision of expansive Botanic Gardens needs more spaces that promote social avenues with no traffic, in today’s world, to interaction. More community create an asphalt space is to fill it with a car. events, a café with outdoor Along with opening up Tallinn’s road grid to more seating, and more benches near the shelter of large trees would small connections and alternate routes, the invite visitors to linger. city should leverage its control over the price of downtown parking to promote and finance public transportation. This is in keeping with the EU’s goal of ‘Getting prices right.’ Surface parking lots should not be considered the highest and best use of land in the city center, where high cost and a limited number of parking spaces could drive public transport improvements. A higher fuel tax also would not adversely affect tourism, and could be used to implement immediate infrastructure improvements. 115

Restrict the rights of cars in and around Old Town.

The tourist appeal of Old Town is its timelessness, but there is nothing like the squealing wheels of a resident commuter to dispel the medieval effect. While the external form of Old Town remains unchanged (see Figures 241a-b), at a finer resolution, the raised fortress of Toompea Figures 215a-c is an outpost in an increasingly car-dominated The green island in Rävala Street city culture (see Figure 242). The city aims to could make a good office park; increase the supply of parking near Old Town to there are many office buildings along both sides of the street. 388 demand, but it would be better to improve At present, there are not alternative ways of getting downtown. Pedestrian enough places to sit, and paths routes around Old Town could make better use of are too wide and lead nowhere. the preserved greenbelt (and former promenade), even if that means reorganizing traffic.

Recommendations for Green (and Blue) Space

Find new ways to protect green space.

The city cannot afford to buy outright all properties that it would like to conserve. The transfer of development rights is one land use tool that the city might use to manage green space, particularly in cases where current residents would like to stay on their land but protect it for future generations (e.g., the Päts family at the Botanic Gardens). Another option to consider would be implementing a policy similar to Sweden’s allemansrätt, which specifies that everyone has the right to camp or hike in larger green spaces, provided that they cause no damage and respect a certain radius of distance from private residences.

Protect small pieces of nature in small ways.

Old trees are objects of cultural value. The critical root zone for a tree is more than 1.5 times the diameter of its canopy. Paving up to the trunk of an old tree is a sure way to kill it slowly, and Figure 216 The dog park at Politseiaed is too small and too artificial to be successful.

388 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 116

in such a way that it may not be obvious that development was the cause (see Figures 243- 245). The city should expand its ordinances protecting historic trees to reflect the need to protect an area larger than the ‘drip line.’

Rethink turf grass.

Pedestrians make their own paths, and sometimes these should be respected. At Politseiaed, pedestrians make it painfully clear that the paths are misplaced at the park’s corners (see Figure 246). Lawn should be reserved for places that get walked on a little, and not used at corners that are continually cut. Turf should also not be attempted in places that never get walked on, Figures 217a-b like roundabout medians, where spots of flower An empty green space on color and ornamental grasses could brighten Türnpu Street could make a dog park. Neighborhood kids prefer traffic (seeFigure 247). to play closer to their building, even by the dumpsters, where there is less noise from traffic. A noise-reducing fence or hedge Improve public access to blue space. along the loudest street and an open fence along the other borders would make this an ideal A shortcoming of Saarinen’s plan, which persists dog run. today, is inadequate treatment of the area between Old Town and the harbor. Linnahall obstructs views to the harbor and could be better blended into the landscape (see Figures 248-251). In the rush to destroy Soviet marks on the city, the area adjacent to the passenger ferry terminal was cleared in the 1990s. The property awaits development proposals without a clear planning vision (see Figures 252-253).

Much of the center city’s harbor space is, literally, fenced off by border control (see Figures 254- 257), and the Pirita shoreline park is susceptible to the disruptions of traffic. The best views of the sea are from private high-rises. The city plans to widen the waterfront, particularly near the passenger ferry terminal Reisisadam and Miinisadam.389 The city should also work to incorporate ‘million-dollar views’ into its public spaces. Tramlines should extend to the most scenic public areas, similar to Göteborg’s 20- minute tram ride from the center of the Swedish Figure 218 city to the archipelago of islands at Saltholmen Dog walkers are now already virtually the only users of this (see Figures 258-259). The new emphasis on pocket park. incorporating Aegna Island into elementary school

389 Personal communication, Tallinn Mayor Jüri Ratas 117

curriculum invites a rail connection through Pirita and Viimsi suburbs, and more formalized ferry access to the island.

Evaluate the need for brownfield remediation more explicitly.

Many of the former Soviet military and industry Figure 219 sites are contaminated brownfields. Putting The urban landscape can incorporate traditional Estonian people in contact with these places is not always elements as well as general the best option. Even sites that look natural may European ones. harbor potentially hazardous contaminants (see Figure 260). Without knowing the extent of fuel dumping and other environmental damages from retreating armies, the burden of investigation rests to some extent on the city.

Come to terms with lost populations without aggravating ethnic tension.

International organizations continue to criticize Estonia for not examining the full extent of the Holocaust that occurred under Nazi German occupation. Memorial markers at Kalevi Liiva and Klooga are a good start, but places of lost populations need to be more prominently acknowledged.

Close to 100,000 Estonians emigrated during Figures 220a-b WWII and never returned, but there is no indica- Coppicing in Tallinn often tion of this at Tallinn’s passenger ferry terminal. takes the form of “Take That!” landscape management. Similarly, the mass deportations to Siberia via rail in 1941 and 1949 are not referenced in any way at the railroad station. Tallinn’s veiled history of war and occupation needs to be acknowledged in places throughout the city, and not just as an exhibit in the Occupation Museum.

Conclusion

Tallinn’s post-Soviet planning must be viewed in a larger context of rapid development, continuous change, and historic influence. Seven centuries of foreign occupation (by Denmark, Sweden, the 118

Teutonic Order, Germany, and Russia) have left a series of physical traces on the city.

The Old Town center of Toompea used to be an island and a Danish fortress in the 1200s, and Old Town developed as a Baltic German outpost. Kristiine was drained by the Swedish monarchy; its street grid and canals date to the 17th century. Nõmme was built as a summer resort when Tallinn was a popular holiday destination in the 1850s. Tsars left a Baroque stamp on the neighborhood of Kadriorg and established Tallinn’s rail system and centers of industry. The haphazard proliferation of workers’ housing in Põhja Tallinn in the early 1900s led the city to commission Eliel Saarinen to produce a masterplan for the city center. Many wooden neighborhoods burned after Soviets bombed the center city in March 1944, and Soviets built massive housing districts

Figures 221a-b in Lasnamäe, Mustamäe, and Haabersti. Jaanipäev fires are a rural tradition that has transferred Surrounded by this conglomeration of influences, over to the city. Fires at Haabersti and Lasnamäe drew Tallinn’s Old Town has become a UNESCO World crowds in June 2006. Heritage Site due to its preserved medieval street layout. Old Town draws millions of tourists to Tallinn each year, and tourism is a powerful economic force in the city.

Tallinners since the early 1900s have embraced the center city medieval district as their own, although it was historically an occupation outpost. The medieval defense tower has become a symbol of Estonian independence. The physical traces of Soviet occupation, however, Figures 222a-b are likely to remain unpopular for at least another A conversational standoff in generation, as WWII had brutal effects in Estonia Toompark contrasts with a more social space in Politseiaed Park. and caused a loss of one quarter of the nation’s population. Integrating the abandoned industrial and military remains of Soviet occupation into the public landscape could speed the healing process, as well as create new spaces to help mix communities.

Estonia is a small country with a strong sense of national identity. The Metsavennad guerrilla movement and stubborn popular adherence to cultural traditions helped Estonia keep its identity through Soviet occupations. In the last 15 years, Estonia’s strong identity has helped it assert independence and ‘return to Europe.’ Now that 119

Estonia is part of NATO and the EU, and feeling more secure, it can afford to turn more attention to its internal affairs.

In post-Soviet Estonia, 10% of the population has been left stateless; most non-citizens live in Tallinn. Relations with Russia remain delicate, and Estonia’s next step is to assimilate its ethnic minorities effectively. Promoting multiculturalism and integrating minorities will help integrate Estonia into the EU: “European cities generally exhibit a much higher level of mixing and integration of functions.”390 The structure of parks and public space in Tallinn can help promote integration, particularly among young people. * In a city with little population growth but rapid economic development, the structure of urban redevelopment is vital. Tallinn should consider Figures 223a-b sustainable city planning and ethnic integration as Near the Estonia Opera and Theater (*), along the axial park two further steps toward erasing the “corrosive at Teatri Väljak (Theater Square), 391 pedestrians would naturally legacy of the Soviet past.” prefer to walk along the edge of the lawn.

390 Beatley 2000: 41 391 Freeland 2005: 77 Eesti Kaardikeskus 2005 *

Figure 224 The bus stops are on the outside edges of the street.

Figure 223 A better use of the park at Teatri Väljak would move all three bus stops to an expanded square at the north end of the park, where a small parking lot is now (orange). Moving the existing telephone booth and kiosk from across the street Figure 225 would also bring people into the park, as would improved In front of Saarinen’s Opera pedestrian connections and crossings along adjacent Rävala House, a row of bushes keeps Boulevard (pink). bus stop users out of the park. 120

Appendix: Population and Ethnicity Data

Year Population Tallinn Population Data References

1372 4000 Tarand 1980: 26 1538 5400 Pullat 1998: 68 1561 8000 Pullat 1998: 68 Figure 227 1688 10000 Pullat 1998: 87 Estonians try to reclaim Linnahall 1696 15000 Pullat 1998: 89 1708 9801 Pullat 1998: 109 with a huge statue of Kalevipoeg, 1710 1962 Pullat 1998: 110 but the city needs more 1718 4000 Pullat 1998: 88 than monuments to promote 1754 6521 Pullat 1998: 110 1763 5638 Pullat 1998: 110 multiculturalism. 1772 5569 Pullat 1998: 110 1782 10653 Pullat 1998: 112 1820 12892 Inferred from Pullat 1998: 114 1856 20000 Pullat 1998: 118

Seppius & Parbus 2006: 12 1858 20680 Pullat 1998: 112 1871 29162 Murras-Hallas 2005: 50 1897 58810 Murras-Hallas 2005: 50 1900 70000 Murras-Hallas 2005: 11 1911 100000 Murras-Hallas 2005: 11 1912 104452 Pullat 1988: 147 1913 116108 Pullat 1998: 127 / Murras-Hallas 2005: 51 1915 133000 Murras-Hallas 2005: 50 1917 150000 Inferred from Pullat 1998: 127 1918 160000 Pullat 1998: 140 1919 93667 Inferred from Pullat 1998: 141 1938 144794 Pullat 1998: 147 1959 279853 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 1970 362536 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 1979 428537 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 1989 478974 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2000 400781 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2001 399685 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2002 398434 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2003 397150 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2004 401821 Tallinn: Facts and Figures

Figure 228 For half a week out of each year, Year Population Estonian Population Data References Tallinn’s Old Town Days draw a diverse suite of entertainments to the center city, including a 1725 220000 www.estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?kateg=43& menyy_id=96&alam bike race (above) and the Rat 1750 335000 www.estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?kateg=43& menyy_id=96&alam Race (below).. 1922 1,107,059 http://www.einst.ee/factsheets/ethnic_minor/ 1934 1126413 http://www.meis.ee/eng/ 1939 1133917 Rahi-Tamm 2005: 28 1945 850000 Rahi-Tamm 2005: 37 1989 1565662 http://www.meis.ee/eng/ Seppius & Parbus 2006: 72 1994 1500000 Jeffries 2004: 131 1997 1,462,130 http://www.einst.ee/factsheets/ethnic_minor/ 2000 1370052 http://www.meis.ee/eng/ 2001 1370000 Jeffries 2004: 131 2005 1,347,000 Tallinn: Facts and Figures

Figure 229 The Rat Race builds company camaraderie while gently mocking the fast pace and cellular dependency of contemporary business. 121

Tallinn's Social Structure Factory Year workers Bourgeois Nobility Reference

1850 500 Pullat 1998: 124 1871 500 Pullat 1998: 129 1879 1004 900 1626 Pullat 1998: 128 1897 4000 Pullat 1998: 128 1900 8000 2235 Pullat 1998: 129, 124 1901 10000 5400 Pullat 1998: 124 1913 16300 Pullat 1998: 128 1914 18600 41500 Pullat 1998: 128 1917 30000 Pullat 1998: 128-129 1920 7470 7500 Pullat 1998: 139 1939 24557 Pullat 1998: 139

Figures 230a-b Tallinn’s crowded buses crawl through traffic like every other vehicle.

Tallinn Ethnicity Data Sources

Year 1500 Pullat 1998: 68 42.59% Estonian 27.78% Russian

1688 Pullat 1998: 89 40.00% Estonian 45.00% German 5.00% Finnish 10.00% Swedish

1820 Pullat 1998: 34.80% Estonian 17.90% Russian 42.90% German

1871 Murras-Hallas 2005: 51 51.80% Estonian

1913 Murras-Hallas 2005: 51 71.60% Estonian

1917 Pullat 1998: 127 60.00% Estonian 25.60% Russian 8.30% German

1922 Pullat 1998: 146-147 83.80% Estonian 6.20% Russian 5.60% German 1.60% Jewish

1997 Jeffries 2004: 135 50.00% Estonian

2005 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 53.70% Estonian 36.50% Russian 3.70% Ukrainian 2.00% Belarussian

Figure 231 Separating tramlines from traffic jams along a parallel network of roads is a better choice. 122

Estonia Ethnicity Data Sources

Year Alenius 2004: 34 1918 88.00% Estonian

1922 http://www.einst.ee/factsheets/ethnic_minor/ 87.70% Estonian 8.23% Russian 1.65% German 0.41% Jewish 0.04% Finnish 0.71% Swedish Figure 232 0.18% Latvian Greenways often bring users into brown spaces. This awkward 1934 http://www.einst.ee/factsheets/ethnic_minor/ crossing near the passenger 88.20% Estonian ferry terminal is considered part 8.23% Russian of a bike path. 1.45% German 0.00% Ukrainian 0.39% Jewish 0.00% Belarussian 0.10% Finnish 0.01% Tatars 0.68% Swedish 0.48% Latvian 0.07% Roma

1945 Raukas 1996: 19 94.00% Estonian

1979 Raukas 1996: 19 64.00% Estonian

1984 Raukas 1996: 19 61.50% Estonian

1989 Gelazis 2003: 50, http://www.einst.ee/factsheets/ethnic_m 61.50% Estonian 30.34% Russian 0.22% German 3.07% Ukrainian 0.29% Jewish 1.79% Belarussian 1.06% Finnish 0.26% Tatars 0.02% Swedish 0.20% Latvian 0.04% Roma Figures 233a-b Accidental green spaces, like 1994 Jeffries 2004: 131, http://www.meis.ee/eng/ this one along Tartu Mantee, 64.00% Estonian could be used to separate 29.00% Russian 0.20% German greenways from cars. There 2.70% Ukrainian is already a pedestrian bridge 1.60% Belarussian over the highway here (Figures 1.00% Finnish 235a-b). 1995 Jeffries 2004: 131 2000 Jewish 1000 Tatars

2000 http://www.meis.ee/eng/ 67.90% Estonian 25.60% Russian 0.01% German 2.10% Ukrainian 1.30% Belarussian 0.00% Swedish 123

References

2005 Tallinna Ortofotoatlas (2005 Tallinn Ortho- photographic Atlas). Tallinna Linnaplaneerimise Amet (Tallinn City Planning Office): Tallinn 2005.

Alenius, Kari. “Under the Conflicting Pressures of the Ideals of the Era and the Burdens of History: Ethnic Relations in Estonia, 1918-1925.” Pages 32-49 of Journal of Baltic Studies, Volume XXXV, Number 1, Spring 2004. Published by the Association for Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS).

AS Lihtsad Maapoisid. 2006 Eestimaa Kalender. AS Lihtsad Maapoisid: Tallinn, 2006.

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Clark, Peter (editor). The European City and Green Figures 235a-b Space: London, Stockholm, Helsinki and St Petersburg, A pedestrian overpass sensibly separates people from a 1850-2000. Ashgate Press: Hampshire, England spaghetti tangle of traffic along 2006. Tartu Mantee. The existing bike path, however, runs immediately Clemens, Walter C. Jr. “Comparative Repression and adjacent to the road. Comparative Resistance: What Explains Survival?” Pages 19-42 of Olaf Mertelsmann (ed)’s The Sovietization of the Baltic States, 1940-1956. KLEIO Ajalookirjandus Sihtasutus, Tartu 2003.

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Eesti Kaardikeskus. Tallinna 1:5000 Atlas. Linnaplaneerisimise Amet: Tallinn, 2005.

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European Commission. A European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities: , 2002. Figure 236 The pedestrian tunnel at The Estonian International Commission for the Vabaduse Väljak requires users Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity. Phase I: The to negotiate 25 approximately Soviet Occupation of Estonia (1940-1941) and Phase 14 cm steps. which could be II: The German Occupation of Estonia (1941-1944). problematic for users with reduced mobility. However, the http://www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions. above ground crossings at this htm#crimiger1 intersection are unmarked (red circle, Figure 239). Feldman, Merje. Urban Regeneration in Eastern Europe: Waterfront Revitalization and Local Governance in Tallinn, Estonia. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for PhD in Geography in the Graduate School of Syracuse University. 1999.

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Figure 237 Hackmann, Jörg and Robert Schweitzer. “Introduction: To make up this difference in North Eastern Europe as a Historical Region.” Pages elevation would require a ramp 361-368 of Journal of Baltic Studies, Volume XXXIII, of more than 42 m. Number 4. Published by the Association for Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS). Winter 2002.

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Figure 238 One way to improve greenways would be to capitalize on existing parks and avenues and connect them in a way that minimizes friction between drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians. A center city greenway could connect Toompark (above left) to Kadriorg (above right). Eesti Kaardikeskus 2005

Figure 239 Pedestrian and bike connections to Kaarli Boulevard’s median, for instance, could be improved. The amount of paving within the park could be reduced to allow for more places to sit, and pedestrian crossings (brown stripes) could be legitimized and made safer for people who are unwilling or unable to use the underground tunnel (red circles). The poorly defined surface lots at Vabaduse Väljak (purple, top right) are not the most effective use of land at present (see Figure 242). 126

Hurst, Robert. The Art of Urban Cycling: Lessons from the Street. Globe Pequot Press: Guilford, CT, 2004.

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Figure 245 The historic tree is dying slowly. 128

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Figures 248a-b Even if Linnahall is protected as a historic site, it is a concrete scar on Tallinn’s shoreline.

Figures 249a-b Cars and can get closer to water than people can.

Figures 250a-b Linnahall’s only soft side is its rarely used northwest corner.

Figure 251 Incorporating generous green roofs into plans for Linnahall’s renovation could make a major contribution to green and blue space in the center city. 130 Tallinn City Enterprise Board 2004 , Adam. The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism. Cambridge University Press: New York, NY, 2001.

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Statistikaamet (Statistical Office of Estonia). Social Trends 3. Tallinn, Estonia: Offset Ltd., 2004. Figure 254 Access to blue space is limited in Tallinn: A Medieval Pearl on the Baltic Sea. Morgan the center city. Studio: Tallinn, 2005 131

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Tärno, Ülo. “Tallinn: Renovation of Prefabricated Buildings in Mustamäe District.” SURBAN – Good Practice in Urban Development database (www.eauee. de/winuwd/156.htm), European Commission, 1998. Figures 256a-b Tiilikainen, Teija. “The Political Implications of the Intrepid bathers and a fisherman EU’s Enlargement to the Baltic States.” Pages 14-2 brave industrial waters at what of (editors) Vello Pettai Jan Zielonka’s The Road to was once known as Kalarand, or the European Union, Volume 2: Estonia, Latvia and Beach. This shore should be reclaimed as official public Lithuania. Manchester University Press: Manchester, space. UK 2003.

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Figuress 257a-b Border requirements effectively block off much access to water in Tallinn. 132

Useful Websites:

Estonia’s security policy, NATO, 06/06: http://www.vm.ee/eng/nato/kat_359/1006. html

Ethnic integration in Estonia, 05/06: http://www.coe.ee/eng/?op=news&NID=55 http://www.hrw.org/reports/1992/WR92/ HSW-03.htm http://www.mig.ee/est/kontakt/regionaalid/

EU Accession, 06/06: http://www.fedee.com/accession1.shtml http://www.iie.com/publications/pb/pb03-9.pdf

Figures, 06/06: www.ezilon.com/ map_of_europe.htm http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image: Tallinn_location.png www.rre-sfe.ee/ ee/ee_ajalugu.htm Figures 258a-b Views like these of the Tallinn Figures, contemporary Tallinn, 06/06: harbor should be accessible by www.dickemauern.de/ tallinn_sm/grtallinn.htm public transport. www.nicholashopkins.co.uk/ estonia.htm www.respublica.ee/ ?id=1818

General information about Tallinn, 05/06: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_ Estonia#Birth_rate http://earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/country_ profiles/pop_cou_233.pdf http://talesmag.com/rprweb/the_rprs/europe/ estonia.shtml History of Jews in Estonia, 08/06: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_ Jews_in_Estonia http://www.historycommission.ee/temp/ conclusions.htm#crimiger1

Mustamäe Renovations, 06/06: http://www.eaue.de/winuwd/156.htm 133

Occupation images, 1940-1991, 06/06: http://amd.store20.com/gallery http://www.estmonde.ch/kalenderblatt/inhalt/ estland/07.07.1941- 09.19.1944/07.07.1941-09.19.1944. html http://www.militaar.net/viewtopic.php?t=183&s tart=15&sid=c424d7f5a5b1c218cdf891 a3ca5a7f2f users.tkk.fi/~andres/ m44/m44defju.htm users.tkk.fi/~andres/ m44/m44ph_th.htm http://estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?menyy_id=99 Figure 259 The archipelago of islands at &kateg=43&alam=61&leht=6 Saltholmen is a 20-minute tram http://estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?menyy_id=99 ride from the Swedish city of &kateg=43&alam=61&leht=12 Göteborg. Tram passengers can http://estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?menyy_id=99 even transfer their ticket to ride &kateg=43&alam=61&leht=13 public ferries out to individual http://estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?menyy_id=99 islands. &kateg=43&alam=61&leht=14

Population Statistics, accessed 06/06: www.estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?kateg=43& menyy_id=96&alam=61&leht=2 www.eki.ee/knn/ungegn/un7_gdl.htm http://www.meis.ee/eng/

Post-Soviet St. Petersburg, 06/06: http://www.ifl-leipzig.com/410.0.html Figure 260 Informal recreational use of a Soviet Occupation, 06/06: former industrial site might not www.einst.ee/factsheets/factsheets_uus_kuju/ be safe. estonia_in_1939_1987.htm http://www.tourism.tallinn.ee/fpage/explore/ attractions/soviet

Soviet Soldier Monument. 06/06: http://www.tourism.tallinn.ee/fpage/explore/ attractions/soviet,

Saarinen’s Plan for Tallinn, 06/06: http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/ saarinen.htm http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/tallinn- making-it-new/?page=3

Winter War between Finland & Russia, 05/06: http://wwwa.britannica.com/eb/article-26104 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

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